Trooper Nick Otterson just finished pumping gas in Garrison on a hot Sunday evening when he heard the sound of screeching tires.

A van came racing into the parking lot. 

Inside, a frantic family was fighting to save 60-year-old Don Weiblen, who did not have a pulse.

Within moments, Otterson was pulling him from the vehicle and beginning CPR in the middle of the parking lot. For nearly 15 minutes, he worked to bring Don’s pulse back as bystanders, emergency responders and medical personnel joined the effort.

“He is the 1 percent of the 1 percent,” Don’s wife, Karen, said. “That’s what the doctors kept telling us.”

What happened on July 25, 2021, was a series of split-second decisions, extraordinary timing and lifesaving actions that helped Don beat the odds and survive.

A feeling he could not explain

Earlier that evening, Don was sailboarding on Bay Lake near Mille Lacs. After returning to the family’s cabin, he began feeling unusually tired.

“I didn’t feel like there was anything wrong. There was no chest pain or anything,” Don recalled.

Then something changed.

“I stood up and said, ‘We have to go.’”

Don, Karen and their son, Elliot, hopped into their van. As Karen drove south on Highway 6, Elliot struggled to find Don’s pulse and called 911.

Moments later, Don lost consciousness.

“I started getting tunnel vision, and then it just went out,” he said. “I was gone.”

A race against time

Elliot began performing CPR as they traveled inside the van.

“I had no clear idea of where I was going or what was going on with Don,” Karen said.

Traffic was heavy as weekend cabin-goers headed home. Karen continued to search for help while Elliot desperately worked to save his father.

Then she spotted Trooper Otterson’s State Patrol squad car at a gas station. 

What neither Karen nor Elliot knew was that Otterson had received a dispatch about their open 911 call just minutes earlier. Dispatchers could hear Karen and Elliot screaming in the background, but they had no information about what was happening or where the call was coming from.

Normally, Otterson would have left after fueling his squad car. Instead, he lingered in the parking lot for a couple of extra minutes.

“Something just said I should wait here,” Otterson recalled.

Then the van came barreling into the parking lot.

Karen jumped out and pleaded for help.

“You have to help my husband.”

Otterson rushed the vehicle and immediately began CPR.

For nearly 15 minutes, he performed chest compressions while coordinating help from bystanders. A nurse in the crowd assisted with an automated external defibrillator (AED). On the third shock, the device detected a heart rhythm. 

“It gave us some hope,” Otterson said.

Don was eventually airlifted to the hospital, where doctors determined he had suffered a massive cardiac arrest caused by a complete blockage in a major artery. He spent around three weeks in the hospital and underwent procedures to place two stents in his heart.

Five years of gratitude

Looking back, both Don and Karen believe many factors aligned that day to save Don’s life.

A hospital helicopter happened to be nearby. There was a place close enough for it to land. Trooper Otterson happened to be at the gas station when they arrived.

“If he had left just a couple minutes earlier, we would have missed him,” Karen said.

After Don was flown to the hospital, Otterson stayed with Karen and Elliot, helping them contact family members and driving them to the hospital in St. Cloud.

Today, the relationship between the Weiblen family and Otterson remains strong.

The family affectionately calls him “Saint Nick.”

“That’s how he is in my phone,” Karen said.

They have stayed in touch over the years, reconnecting at events and checking in with one another. Earlier this year, Otterson visited the Weiblen’s cabin.

For Otterson, the experience remains one of the most memorable moments of his career. 

“The odds were against Don surviving,” he said. “Everything came together that day.”

This summer marks five years since Don’s cardiac arrest, a milestone he’s grateful to reach.

“If I had just laid down on the couch, I wouldn’t be here,” he said.

The experience has left the family with an important message for others: Learn CPR, donate blood and help others when you see them in need.

“We’re eternally grateful,” Karen said. “Because Don’s able to be here for all of life’s moments.”

Every time the family now passes a Minnesota State Patrol squad car on the road, they’re reminded of the trooper who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

A reminder that sometimes a single moment can change the course of a life forever.