Typically Merced traffic officers write parking tickets. This one saved a man’s life

Residents are not always happy to see a “meter maid,” but one Merced parking enforcement officer is being credited with saving a man’s life, police said on Tuesday.

Jessica Phillips was headed south on G Street in her parking enforcement scooter when she was flagged down by a bystander south of Alexander Avenue about 10 a.m. Friday, she said.

“They said this guy just collapsed,” she told the Sun-Star.

The 50-year-old Los Banos woman said she checked the man, later identified as Lawrence Ramirez of Merced, to see if he was alive. Then she called an ambulance to aid the 78-year-old man.

It’s unclear what was happening to Ramirez, but it may have been a stroke, according to responders.

Officer Krista Stokes overheard the call, and swooped in to begin CPR, according to police. Merced firefighters also responded to the scene as Ramirez’s heart stopped.

Responders applied a defibrillator, which administers an electric shock to the heart, Phillips said. She said they used it three times before Ramirez was stabilized.

As a parking enforcement officer, a defibrillator is a rare sight. “The closest I get to seeing someone shock the heart is ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ” she said. “Thank God he made it.”

The whole incident reminded her of her father, Michael Stevenson, who died in Richmond, Va., about two years ago, she said.

Writing tickets can make people mad, she said, adding she’s been called a “b-word” and a “Nazi.” But, she remains undeterred. “I love my job. I love working with people,” she said.

This story was originally published May 9, 2017 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Typically Merced traffic officers write parking tickets. This one saved a man’s life ."