Sonja Nixon Frazier, the night shift manager at a Taco Bell restaurant in Clarksville, does not normally work during the day. But on August 12, in a lucky turn of events, she was accidentally hit when she and two colleagues noticed a car in the wrong direction.
“We saw the driver hit the wheel, so we ran to him and pulled him out of the car,” Frazier, 37, told CNN. “I checked on a pulse and found it was vague. I could not find it almost at first. My colleague called 911, but I noticed that his fingertips, his ears and his lips were all blue.”
Frazier immediately slapped him over and started performing CPR while talking to the man and told him that everything would be fine. After about 11 minutes of CPR, first responders arrived on the scene and took it over.
“I saw him grab one of her arms when she pulled him into the stretcher and that was when I knew he would be okay,” Frazier said. “I do not see myself as a hero. This was what I had to do. It does not matter who he was or what skin color he had. I knew I was there to save his life. But it was really emotionally overwhelming. After I just smoked a cigarette and cried. “
Marquita Johnson, the Clarksville Taco Bell general manager, told CNN she was “in tears” when she found out what happened. She says she was not surprised that Frazier immediately stepped in when she realized the man was in danger.
“She normally works the night shift, but I needed her there with me that day. She is a real person who is always ready to help anyone and everyone whenever she can,” Johnson said. “She is my hero. I am honored to be her boss.”
Their lives risk saving his
Frazier, who has two children, was a health care worker for more than six years before joining Taco Bell, where she worked for 13 years.
She also suffers from sarcoidosis, a rare lung disease that puts her at greater risk of coronavirus.
“I was really scared about Covid-19,” Frazier said. “My pre-existing condition can be fatal. But that never occurred to me. It really did not. All I cared about was saving that man’s life. I did not want to leave him.”
After the incident, Frazier, who knew the man’s name from his license, found him on Facebook and sent him a message to make sure he was in order.
“I would never forget his face or his name,” she said. “I sent him a message telling him who I am, and he replied thank you for saving his life and asked me how he could repay me. I told him he knew he was fine enough. compensation for me. “
The man, who told Frazier that he wanted to remain anonymous, promised her that they would meet in person once again.
“We are incredibly proud to hear of the heroism and courage shown by these team members to save a customer’s life in Clarksville, TN,” a Taco Bell spokesman told CNN.
Frazier hopes her story will encourage everyone to take a first aid class to learn CPR in case a loved one or stranger needs help.
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