LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) -A Tates Creek High School senior is credited with saving a life in a Taco Bell parking lot.
Barack Aziz works at the restaurant part-time and he didn’t hesitate when he saw a customer in the grass unresponsive.
Barack handed his glasses to a coworker and knelt to begin CPR.
“I did it for about 2½ minutes but it felt like a long time,” he said, recalling how his arms cramped from the exertion. “My whole mind was like, ‘I want to save this man’s life.”
Aziz’s efforts made the difference, and paramedics then revived the customer. Lexington firefighters and first responders subsequently commended the student’s levelheaded action during a brief ceremony in the school library, where he received Tates Creek’s 2019 Citizenship Award. They have also nominated Barack to be recognized at their annual banquet in early 2020.
Barack takes a basic medical sciences class at Tates Creek, which this school year added its Medical & Emergency Services Academy. It, along with medical academies at Bryan Station and Frederick Douglass high schools, is a satellite of the long-established program at Southside Technical Center.
Barack eventually hopes to be a surgeon.
A loved one of E4 Specialist Derrick Jennings says that Jennings was also there that day and also helped the unresponsive customer.
