NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — When a traveler collapsed at Newark Liberty International Airport, police got an assist from a celebrity doctor: Mehmet Oz.
The incident occurred late Monday night when Port Authority Officer Jeffrey Croissant saw the 60-year-old man fall to the floor near a baggage claim area.
Croissant called for backup, rushed to the man and immediately began performing CPR.
When another man came over to help, Croissant didn't immediately recognize it was Mehmet Oz, the cardiac surgeon and longtime host of TV's “Dr. Oz Show.”
ABC News reports Oz had just flown into the New Jersey airport with his family when he saw the man collapse to ground around 11 p.m. EST, and begin foaming at the mouth and bleeding.
During an interview on “Good Morning America,” Oz said he couldn’t find a pulse and the man wasn’t responsive, so he rolled the man onto his back and saw that he was purple, “the color of an eggplant.”
The two then performed CPR together on the man until three more officers arrived to provide oxygen and activate a defibrillator to the man, who eventually regained a pulse and was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
Oz told GMA that he’s been in contact with the man’s wife, who told the doctor he’s in the ICU, but is “doing very well” and they plan to move to a hospital closer to home.
Oz called the incident a “a true miracle” because the odds were “heavily against” the man.