School staff saves student’s life

BATESVILLE, Ark. (KAIT) - Batesville High School faculty members revived a student in the middle of class after the student fell from a desk to the floor.

Social Studies Educator Constance Johnson was teaching and walking around her classroom on Thursday, Sept. 7, just moments before the incident occurred.

“Everything was normal, everything was fine,” she said. “Then I heard a loud noise. I thought someone had dropped their book.”

But when she turned around, she was shocked at what she found.

“My student was lying down on the floor,” the teacher said. “He turned blue like you could tell he wasn’t getting oxygen.”

Principal Stacey Lindsey said the student was not breathing and had no pulse.

Johnson said she immediately directed her students to help by having them call 911, getting the school nurse, and running to the office to inform the administration.

“I said, ‘I need you to do it fast,’” Johnson said.

The school nurse, Brandi Fleetwood, quickly arrived and administered an automated external defibrillator, AED, to the unconscious student. She said Assistant Principal Kevin Bledsoe followed with chest compressions.

“This all happened within less than two minutes and in three minutes, we had him semi-revived,” Lindsey said.

An ambulance arrived at the school within seven minutes of the student falling out and took the student to White River Medical Center.

Junior Kennedy Johnson was not in the classroom, but she said it did not take long for her to hear about what happened.

“I had heard about it right before I went to class,” she said. “I was like, ‘Did this really happen or is it just a rumor?’”

She said rumors of a possible seizure lingered in the halls.

Several others took to our K8 inbox and said it was due to a drug overdose, but neither of those rumors was true.

“The [drug] panel did not show any kind of drug, any kind of narcotic, any kind of anything that had been ingested,” Lindsey said.

She said the student experienced a cardiac event and is now okay and safe.

If it wasn’t for her well-trained staff, she said the situation could have ended much worse than it did.

According to Lindsey, all staff members at the school are trained in AED, CPR, Narcan, and more.

Copyright 2023 KAIT. All rights reserved.