Bodycam video shows deputies save life of juror who collapsed at courthouse
By: As Shirley Bennet walked into an Arapahoe County courtroom, she turned back and said, "I return to the scene of the crime."
She smiled as she said that, and proceeded to where a group of deputies and paramedics greeted her.
“You look so much better," a deputy said.
“Oh, I’m sure I do," Bennet said.
The last time she was at the Arapahoe County courthouse, she collapsed.
Bennet remembers leaving the courtroom while it was in recess, sitting on a bench, and nothing else.
A district attorney who is also a physician kept track of her pulse while deputies did compressions for about 10 minutes before South Metro paramedics arrived and continued with lifesaving measures.
"That's what we're trained to do, is keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going," Arapahoe County Sgt. Robert Chase said. "And it's a good thing that we did, 'cause here's Shirley."
South Metro's medical director said had Bennet not had that early CPR intervention, she wouldn't be here today.
Three heart attacks later, and Bennet is camera ready.
"You're looking at a woman who should be dead, but not so," Bennet said, pretending to hold a microphone. "She's alive and well and going on with living her life and doing the things she needs to do. Thank you for tuning into our news, now we're going to go to cars are stuck on I-70 in the snowstorm."
"I look around, I'm overwhelmed and overcome," Bennet said, getting emotional. "OK, keep it together. Overcome because I went through a crisis totally unexpected and God sent angels with skin and invisible wings."
After this TV story, Bennet said there should be a Netflix special. She'd call it, "A Reason for Jury Duty," and said she'd play all the parts.
"As I said, I'll never complain about jury duty again," Bennet said.
She said she felt like this was a full circle moment because she had taken a CPR class in 1969, and taught it at her job before she retired.
She hopes her story inspires others to take CPR classes.