MIRAMAR, Fla. – A quick thinking Publix manager is being praised by a Miramar family for saving their son’s life.
Lamonte “Monty” Sharpe, 35, had started his shift at the River Run Publix on Miramar Parkway Nov. 6.
Manager Christian Mendez said Sharpe was pushing shopping carts when he suddenly collapsed near the entrance.
“I checked for a pulse, and I just reacted at that moment,” Mendez said. “I called 911 and started compressions.”
Mendez asked a colleague to grab the defibrillator by the front of the store, and said managers in the company are trained to use it.
“There’s plenty of people that go their whole career without having to use it, and unfortunately, I had to use it. But thank God I was ready for that moment,” he said.
Sharpe’s family is grateful.
“His boss is really the one who saved his life,” said father Kevin Truitt.
“Thank God that he did,” said mother Toni Sharpe-Truitt, “Because if he would have laid there any longer, they said past 15 minutes, it would have been another story.”
Tara Smith, a spokesperson for Miramar Fire Rescue, said first responders received the 911 call around 4:30 p.m.
“We assumed care from the Publix manager, who was providing CPR at the time of our arrival, and transported the patient to Memorial Hospital West,” Smith wrote in an email to Local 10 News.
Sharpe’s family said he was born with a heart condition, but has defied the odds ever since. They said he is improving in the hospital every day, and are hopeful he makes a full recovery.
“I’m no hero. I just sell groceries,” Mendez said. “I’m just glad I was able to be trained enough to make that difference for him.”