INDIANAPOLIS — A leader with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hancock County once again found himself using his CPR skills at a critical moment to try to help an individual in peril.
Andre Davis felt called to action shortly after a semi-trailer truck rear-ended a van Oct. 1 in an eastbound lane of Interstate 70 about a mile east of Post Road.
The driver of the van — George Eberl, 68, Burnie, Maryland — was later transported to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, where he was pronounced dead, according to information released by the Indiana State Police.
Davis, an Indianapolis resident, was driving west on I-70 after a day of work as site director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hancock County. He said he came upon the scene shortly after the crash happened, at about 5:45 p.m.
Davis parked, climbed over a wall in the highway’s median and made his way to the scene. Tresa Quick, another driver who had stopped, was performing CPR on Eberl. Davis told her he’s certified in CPR and could jump in and help whenever she needed him to. Quick took him up on the offer, and Davis began chest compressions in an attempt to keep the blood flowing to Eberl’s brain. Davis estimated he worked on the victim for eight to 10 minutes before first-responders arrived and took over.
It can be alarming performing CPR in an environment outside of a hospital, where there are no medical tools, Davis said.
“You are doing everything you can within your physical peak of yourself to provide the best care that you can,” he said.
In July, he and New Palestine resident Amanda Hall used CPR to save a 2-year-old boy pulled unconscious from Riley Park Pool in Greenfield.
Davis said he was sad to learn later that evening that Eberl had died.
“You do feel a sense of sadness as far as — you were one of the last ones to touch this man,” he said. “…Sometimes you’re able to make a difference, and sometimes you’re not.”
According to a state police news release, the crash occurred as traffic came to a stop because of a construction zone to the east. The initial collision forced Eberl’s van to rear-end a Toyota, which then rear-ended another semi. Then, the first semi, unable to stop, slammed into the back of Eberl’s van.
Another driver suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to Hancock Regional Hospital, the release states.
Alcohol is not believed to be a factor, and investigators determined the semi was not speeding at the time of the crash.
