‘I want to save this man’s life.’ Lexington student working at Taco Bell gave customer CPR

Tates Creek High School senior Barack Aziz was at his part-time job at a Lexington Taco Bell when he saw a customer lying in the grass unresponsive and turning blue, he would later tell firefighters.

Barack handed his eyeglasses to a co-worker, knelt and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, according to a news release from Fayette County Public Schools about Barack receiving Tates Creek’s 2019 Citizenship Award on Tuesday.

Barack said he performed CPR “for about 2½ minutes, but it felt like a long time.” He said his arms were cramping, but “my whole mind was like, ‘I want to save this man’s life.’”

Lexington Fire Major Jordan Saas told the Herald-Leader Wednesday Barack —who had received CPR training from the fire department at his school’s medical academy about a month before the Feb. 21 incident — also asked a co-worker to call 911. Paramedics who arrived on the scene revived the customer and said “he was no longer blue and had a strong pulse,” Saas said.

Saas said Barack is credited with the “excellent outcome.”

“It was a phenomenal display of citizenship,” Tates Creek Principal Marty Mills said about Barack in the news release. “It’s a good example of his character and the way he’s been raised,”

Saas said that Barack and other students received hands-on training on CPR, applying a tourniquet, providing care to a choking victim and more.

Barack is enrolled in a basic medical sciences class at Tates Creek, which this school year opened a Medical & Emergency Services Academy. The medical academies at Tates Creek, Bryan Station and Frederick Douglass high schools, are satellites of a similar program at Southside Technical Center, school officials said.

Amanda Wickersham, the academy coach at Tates Creek, said Wednesday that she is hearing about similar incidents involving students at other Lexington high schools who are in medical academies.

“It’s phenomenal to see that it’s happening so quickly,” she said.

Barack said he wants to be a dentist or a plastic surgeon, and he said he paid attention during the CPR training.

“I knew I wanted to learn it and keep it in my mind. I focused to make sure I learned everything, and two weeks later I needed it,” he said.

This story was originally published March 27, 2019 at 4:47 PM.