By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A motorist whose car bounced back and forth between a semi truck and the inside barrier of Interstate 5 before wrecking near Winlock was found in cardiac arrest by a pair of emergency room nurses from the Portland area who stopped to help him this afternoon.
The passersby, EMTs from Lewis County Fire District 5 as well as medics from Lewis County Medic One conducted CPR following the approximately 3:30 p.m. crash, according to paramedic Clayton Skinner.
“District 5 and medics worked on the guy, shocked him, gave him drugs and got him back,” Skinner said.
The man was taken to Providence Centralia Hospital and then on to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Skinner said.
Troopers called to southbound Interstate 5 at milepost 64 reported the 2012 Subaru Legacy was southbound in the inside lane when it drifted into the left front tire area of a white Freightliner.
The car drifted left and then back to the right where it hit the rear tire area before striking the jersey barrier and then crossing all the way to the ditch on the shoulder side of the road, according to the Washington State Patrol.
The driver, Jeffrey L. Calcagno, 55, is from Battleground, according to the state patrol.
The state patrol described the Subaru as totaled but Skinner said it didn’t look that bad. A collision memo from the state patrol stated Calcagno’s injuries were unknown and the cause of the wreck is under investigation.
The semi truck continued south without stopping, according to the investigating trooper.
Skinner said the nurses told him they found the driver unconscious and unresponsive so they started CPR.
He couldn’t say if that caused the crash or was because of it, he said.
“We did get his heart rhythm back, and everything was looking good,” he said.
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