Ashley Williams shows her Outstanding Citizen Award from Livingston Parish Fire Department while in front of the
Domino’s Pizza location she works at. She currently works and resides in Walker, Louisiana while also
attending Southeastern as a general studies major with a concentration in English.
The Lion’s Roar / Elizabeth Brown

What started off as an ordinary day in the life of Ashley Williams turned out to be far from normal by the end of the day. General studies major with a concentration in English Ashley Williams is a writer and single mother of her two-year old son Corbyn and lives and works in Walker, Louisiana at Domino’s Pizza. This job requires her to make pizza deliveries to local addresses. One night, she was faced with a situation that far exceeded those requirements.

On Friday, October 9, while Ashley was making a delivery, a man came running toward her car while waving his arms and yelling for her to stop. When that happened, she did not understand what was going on, but she decided to get involved and take action anyway. 

“I felt really confused,” said Williams. “He didn’t say [what] was going on. He just kept yelling to stop and was running back inside. I almost pulled off and kept going, but when he went to the neighbors for help, I saw a little girl answer the door, so I stopped and asked what he needed because whatever it was, she didn’t need to be involved. He asked me to call 911. I gave the operator the address and kept going, but the operator told me she needed to speak to the man inside so I turned around and went in. I handed him the phone and saw a guy laying on the ground [and he was] blue. His [the victim] entire face was blue. I went and checked to see if he was cold, if he had a pulse and if he was breathing. He wasn’t cold, but he wasn’t breathing, so I started doing compressions.”

Prior to this incident, Ashley had taken kinesiology and health studies instructor Bing Athey’s Emergency Health Care class. She later explained the class taught her cardiopulmonary resuscitation, also commonly known as CPR, and basic first aid. She also explained why she took the class in the first place. 

“My original major was speech therapy and it was required,” said Williams. “It taught CPR and basic first aid. I have a CPR mask and a reference guide at my house at all times because of that class. I didn’t have a mask with me when it happened, so I did not give breaths. We learned in the class if you don’t have a mask, compressions are enough. I honestly think everyone should take it. I’m a pizza delivery driver and I needed it. It just shows that you never know what could happen.”

With the skills she learned from the class, she applied them to this moment. 

“If they’re not breathing, you do CPR,” said Williams. “I honestly wasn’t positive that was what I was supposed to do, but it was the only thing that I knew how to do. Eventually, I got the phone from the guy and the operator talked me through it. She said I was doing the right thing and counted the compressions for me.”

As she was doing compressions, she feared the worst.

“I thought he [the victim] was dead. It was definitely the scariest, most traumatic experience of my life,” said Williams.  

As this was happening, she was trying to calm down the man who originally ran out of the house. She later found out that the man who ran out was the one who lived in the house they were at, and because his phone was dead, he had been unable to call 911 earlier. She also found out that the victim was his friend who had come over and stayed the night. 

“It was an overdose, so he [the friend] was saying he kept telling him [the victim] to stay away from that stuff,” said Williams. “He [the friend] was just frantic. I told him the only way he can help us was to go sit down and calm down. He had a broken arm and there’s no way he could’ve helped do compressions.”

She felt great fear and shock while she was doing compressions on the victim, but was hoping relief would come soon.

“I was praying that the first responders would get there soon,” said Williams. “If I did one thing wrong with this guy, he would die. I heard his ribs crack and got really upset. It’s supposed to happen, but feeling it happen is completely different than knowing it’s going to.”

When the first responders arrived, including Livingston Parish Fire District 5 Chief Joe Koczrowski, the drug Narcan, which, according to drugs.com, is a drug used to reverse the effects of narcotics or narcotic overdoses, was administered. Ashley and the friend were also asked to go outside. Once outside, she had to face the possibility of losing her job and had to complete her delivery.  

“I called my boss,” said Williams. “I was just thinking ‘there’s no way they’re going to believe me.’ I also had to accept a very real possibility that I would be fired. It’s a liability on the company. It is against the rules to stop if anyone waves you down and to go inside of anyone’s house. Luckily, I work for a company that was very proud of me and actually [later] rewarded me instead of firing me. I also called the guy I was delivering to and he had to walk down the road to get his pizza from me.”

Within this same time, the victim awoke and was brought out of the house. 

“He woke up in about two minutes after they gave him the medicine,” said Williams. “They brought him out on the stretcher and got all of my information. The fire chief told me he would not have lived if I had not done CPR.”

After the incident was over, Ashley continued on with her day.

“Then I just went back to work,” said Williams. “When I got back, everyone was kind of freaking out. The fire chief had called my boss so that she knew I wasn’t making it up. I took another delivery and when I got back, [the CBS network affiliate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana] WAFB had called and wanted to come for an interview.”

At first, everything felt surreal for Ashley until it really impacted her later on. 

“I think I had too much adrenaline to feel anything,” said Williams. “I just kind of kept working like it was any other day, but after about an hour, it hit me. Surprisingly, I just got really upset. It was so scary, but I am so happy that I was able to help him.”

A few days later on October 14, she got a call from Koczrowski telling her that they had an award for her if she wanted to come by and pick it up, but she was surprised to find that there would be more than an award waiting for her. 

“They wanted to surprise me and definitely did,” said Williams. “I got a plaque from the [Livingston] fire department, an Outstanding Citizen Award from the [Livingston] Parish President [Layton Ricks] and I received the Hand It On award of 300 dollars from WAFB. That was also on the news and in the Livingston Parish newspaper. My parents and my son were there, my boss and the Domino’s district manager were there, the parish president, fire chief, fire captain and many other people.”

When this happened, she felt very honored, surprised and happy. 

“It was overwhelming,” said Williams. “I did not expect anything at all. I’m lucky to live somewhere with such kind-hearted people. I was very happy to find out he [the victim] is in rehab now and is working toward a healthy life.”

Later on, she also received a thank you letter and 500 dollars from the CEO of Domino’s.

After all that happened, she feels happy knowing that she was able to make a difference. 

“Him [the victim] and his family have contacted me to tell me thank you,” said Williams. “I am so grateful for everything. Everyone has been completely wonderful. I like to think anyone would do the same thing in that situation. I hope it has given a little light to the importance of everyone knowing CPR.”

This emergency CPR mask and reference guide are kept at Ashley’s residence at all times in case of emergencies.
She recieved these as a result of taking kinesiology and health studies instructor Bing Athey’s Emergency Health Care class.
The Lion’s Roar / Elizabeth Brown