ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DAVID MARTIN'S quick thinking got an ambulance to the unconscious Barry Scales in about five minutes, and has earned him quite a bit of praise.
Until Saturday, David Martin's 5-year career as a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier was marked by the ordinary: letters, junk mail, magazines, the occasional package.
Now, neighbors of a man whose life he helped save are calling him a hero. The victim says he's thankful. And Roanoke's postmaster is preparing a commendation for the 32-year-old Boones Mill resident.
Martin was delivering mail on Harrison Avenue Northwest when he discovered Barry Scales unconscious on a front porch, behind a half wall that obscured him from the street.
Scale's breathing was labored and raspy. Foam was coming from his mouth.
"He was in a chair - the chair was broken," Martin said Wednesday. "You could tell both he and the chair had fallen back. He was laying flat on his back when I got there."
Martin tried to wake up Scales, but Scales didn't respond. Nobody at the house was home. So Martin shouted to a small boy across the street, telling him to have his mother call 911.
Martin had taken cardiopulmonary resuscitation training years ago. But as he stood over Scales and waited for the rescue crew to arrive, little bits of doubt crept into his mind about what to do.
Instead of performing CPR, he prayed.
"I was praying that he'd keep breathing, because I was scared that he'd stop and I wouldn't remember what to do," Martin recalled. "I was saying, `Please! Please! Don't let him stop breathing!'''
An ambulance crew arrived within 5 minutes - "but it seemed a lot longer than that," Martin said - and transported Scales to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was still recovering on Thursday.
Odessa Tucker was watching the events from her nearby home on Eighth Street. She couldn't figure out what was going on.
"I was sitting on my porch, which is just down the street, and I was thinking, `Why is it taking the mailman so long to get down here?''' she said. After realizing what had happened, she said, "The mailman, he really should be credited with saving Barry Scales' life."
Roanoke Postmaster Billy Martin agrees. He said Wednesday that he's preparing some sort of recognition for Martin, who is no relation. Martin has worked a total of eight years for the postal service, the first three as a clerk.
Scales, 33, said from his hospital bed on Thursday that he's glad Martin found him, although he doesn't remember passing out. He declined to discuss the circumstances. Scales used to live in the house where he was found, but no longer does.
"I'm thankful, but I have a lot of personal problems that I care not to let out," Scales said.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN SPEARMAN/Staff U.S. Postal Service letter carrierby CNBDavid Martin discovered a man who had collapsed at 733 Harrison Ave.
Northwest. color.