Fast-acting restaurant employees, customers save woman's life

A McDonald's drive-thru window.
(Image credit: Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

When a woman became unconscious Tuesday while waiting for her order at a Doral, Florida, McDonald's drive-thru, employee Pedro Viloria jumped into action.

The customer, an off-duty police officer, was driving an SUV with her two children in the back seat, and the car went rolling forward when her medical issue began, causing her foot to slip off the brakes. Viloria told ABC 10 News he thought, "I've got to do something," and he leapt out the window. He ran after the SUV, which nearly collided with another vehicle. After it came to a stop, Viloria ran back into the McDonald's for help, and there was plenty — a paramedic in the drive-thru came running to help, as did another McDonald's employee who started giving the woman CPR, plus two fire rescue team members inside the restaurant.

The woman was revived with the use of an automated external defibrillator brought by a police officer, and authorities say she survived. Watch the surveillance footage showing Viloria jumping through the drive-thru window at ABC 10 News.

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.