His Heart Stopped on a Detroit Sidewalk. Two Neighbors Kept It Going Until the Engine Arrived.

DETROIT - Mark Attles was talking with a friend in front of his home on the city's west side on the evening of Aug. 4 when a wave of dizziness came over him and he fell to the sidewalk. Within moments, two neighbors were at his side, and they kept up chest compressions until a fire engine arrived a little more than three minutes after the 911 call was dispatched. On Friday, Oct. 23, the Detroit Fire Department honored those neighbors, and the crews who restarted the 41-year-old father's heart, at a reunion with the man they saved, according to the department and local television reports.

"I was talking with a friend and sudden dizziness just came over me," Mr. Attles told WDIV-TV (ClickOnDetroit). "Then the next thing you know, I'm being woken up, zapped back to life with a defibrillator by the fire department." He said he later learned that blockages in his heart had caused his collapse.

Mouchette Muhammad, his next-door neighbor, saw him from a kitchen window. Mr. Muhammad, a former personal trainer trained in CPR, according to WXYZ-TV, ran outside and began compressions while asking Mr. Attles's mother to call 911. "I ran straight to Mark, noticed that he was gurgling. He was unconscious. I immediately began CPR," he told WDIV.

Another neighbor, Matsimela Miller, stepped in to help, the fire department said, "ensuring there were no gaps in the CPR." Mr. Miller, a former lifeguard who is also trained in CPR, according to WXYZ, was still searching for the right word for it weeks later. "Like divine intervention?" he told the station. "I'm glad we had people who are CPR trained because that's not always present."

Engine 30 arrived three minutes and eight seconds after dispatch and found Mr. Attles unresponsive, without a pulse and not breathing, according to the department's account. The crew took over CPR and shocked him with a defibrillator; two minutes later, Medic 17 arrived. Together, the department said, the crews restored his heartbeat, and he was alert and oriented when he was taken to Sinai-Grace Hospital. He has since had surgery and a defibrillator implanted in his chest, and he told WDIV he is doing well.

At Friday's ceremony, the department awarded Engine 30 and Medic 17 a Commissioner Unit Commendation. One firefighter turned to the neighbors. "Your neighbors, and friends, your family. Those were the difference makers, prior to our arrival," he said, according to WDIV.

"The outcome of this incident is a powerful reminder that saving a life can begin before the first emergency vehicle arrives," Executive Fire Commissioner Chuck Simms said in a statement. "This is what happens when people step up, work together and refuse to give up on someone who needs help."

Damien Falcon, a firefighter on Engine 30 that night, put the evening in plainer terms. "Up and moving and being able to go home with his family is huge. It's why we do what we do," he told WXYZ.

The department used the occasion to press a broader point. Detroit in 2024 became the largest municipality in the United States to earn a HEARTSafe Community designation, the city said, and it offers free, roughly 45-minute hands-only CPR classes twice a week at its Walter P. Harris Regional Training Center, open to anyone without medical experience. It also urges residents to download the free PulsePoint AED app, which maps registered defibrillators across the city.

Dr. Enrique Rodriguez-Fhon, an emergency physician and a resident fellow with the fire department, according to the city, offered the simplest instruction. "If you see somebody collapse, and you see they're not breathing normally, go ahead and call 911 right away and start pushing hard and fast," he told WDIV. Mr. Muhammad's advice was gentler: "Take a few deep breaths and do what you're taught."

For Mr. Attles, the reunion was a chance to say what he could not say on the sidewalk in August. "It means everything to me," he told WXYZ, "because without them I wouldn't be here."

Sources: City of Detroit / Detroit Fire Department news release, Oct. 23, 2026: https://detroitmi.gov/news/detroit-fire-department-honors-neighbors-and-first-responders-lifesaving-cardiac-arrest-response ; WDIV-TV ClickOnDetroit, Demond Fernandez, Oct. 23, 2026: https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2026/10/23/detroit-neighbors-first-responders-honored-after-cpr-helps-save-mans-life/ ; WXYZ-TV, Demetrios Sanders, Oct. 2026: https://www.wxyz.com/news/detroit-neighbors-firefighters-honored-after-helping-save-man-who-went-into-cardiac-arrest . Name spellings and Mr. Attles's age follow the fire department's release; WDIV reported his age as 42 and spelled Mr. Muhammad's first name Mouchettee. Free CPR class registration: https://detroitmi.gov/departments/detroit-fire-department/heartsafe-community