911 calls reveal efforts to save the life of student who died on a Gaston Co. school bus
When a bus driver found a Holbrook Middle School student unresponsive on the bus Thursday, they used a walkie-talkie to get help, according to a recording of a 911 call from the incident.
That student, described in the calls as a 13- or 14-year-old 8th grader, later died.
On Friday, Gaston County released two 911 calls that described some of the actions taken to save the life of the student, including CPR and using a defibrillator.
“We just had the ambulance pull up, and the fire here and the police, but we think that the student is - we got the defibrillator, we tried CPR and he’s not coming back,” the caller in the recording said.
The first 911 call was placed at 8 a.m. and the second at 8:08 a.m., the recordings said. According to the Gaston County Schools website, the school day starts at 8:30 a.m. at Holbrook Middle School.
In the first call recording, the dispatcher tells the caller to use a defibrillator on the student if they have on one site. In the second call, the caller confirmed a defibrillator was used.
On Thursday, the Gaston County Police Department said in a press release that after passing out, life-saving efforts were made by the Lowell Police School Resource Officer working at the school, as well as Gaston Emergency Medical Services.
While the student was unconscious, according to the release, officers utilized Narcan in case there was some type of exposure to narcotics. However, the Narcan did not have any effect on the student, indicating it was not likely a drug overdose.
The student was transported to CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia where he later died.
A Charlotte Observer review of a police incident report on Friday showed no information about the case, and information about the student’s age, sex, and race were redacted.
The Gaston County Police Department said the incident occurred inside Lowell city limits, which meant the Lowell Police Department completed the initial field report. The Gaston County Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit conducted the investigation into the incident.
No other information will be released at this point, the department said.
In an email to the Observer, Cornell Wedge from the fundraising website GoFundMe said a page to help with funeral costs had been set up by the student’s father. As of Friday afternoon, it had raised $35,031, surpassing its $15,000 goal.
