A 15-year-old baseball player is lucky to be alive and in the hospital after getting hit in the chest with a baseball, thanks to a quick-thinking police officer who grabbed a nearby defibrillator.
The incident happened when the teen was inside the batting cage at the North Shore Little League complex in Rocky Point. A teen was pitching overhand in the cages, when a line drive came at him and hit him in the chest.
He went down hard and was in immediate trouble. Parents began screaming for help.
Thankfully, off-duty Suffolk County police officer John Cerato had just finished coaching his daughter’s softball team ran forward with a defibrillator and shocked the non-responsive boy back to life.
“It’s very gratifying, it wasn’t just me. It was a team effort by a bunch of people – I wish I knew the doctor’s name,” said Cerato, “I happened to be the guy near the shed.”
Thankfully there were also doctors who happened to be on the fields. As for the boy, Eyewitness News is told he did come back to life almost right after the shock.
He is currently in the hospital – where he is complaining about being hungry.
Cerato, now hailed as a hero for saving the boy’s life and giving his family another reason to believe in miracles