By EDWARD MARTIN SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
With what felt like a grizzly in his chest, Jim Benfield’s legs buckled, and he crashed onto his living room floor. A Mount Holly policeman who had helped first responders break down doors to rescue ailing 911 callers, he frantically fumbled with his cellphone.
“Dummy me, why didn’t I call the ambulance?” he shrugs. “I knew I was dying, and all I could think was that I wanted to speak to my wife one more time.”
As he stepped out of the shower, a clot blocked the left anterior descending artery of Benfield’s heart, triggering paroxysms of pain that he compares to the claws of an angry bear.