Jason James felt light-headed, then collapsed near first base while coaching his daughter's softball game at Delaney Park in Orlando. He had gone into cardiac arrest in front of a crowd of parents, teammates, and his own daughter, Ariana — and within minutes, a group of strangers at the park would decide whether he lived or died.
James was recovering five months after the collapse when he sat down with the people who saved him, according to WKMG ClickOrlando. Bystanders began CPR immediately after he went down, and someone in the crowd sprinted off to retrieve an automated external defibrillator. Marcus DePaolo, an off-duty Winter Garden Fire Battalion Chief who happened to be at the game in an Angels jersey, told the station he saw James lying down and a friend running with a red bag.
A Locked Door Between Him and the AED
The nearest AED was not sitting courtside — it was locked inside the park's concession stand behind a coded door. Adam Bitner, who had received the AED pin the day before, in March 2026, knew the code and retrieved the device from the concession stand, according to the same report. That detail underscores a real operational gap: under Florida Statute § 1006.165, state law requires AEDs at high school athletic events, but there is no similar mandate for municipal parks or youth community leagues, per The Florida Senate. Whether an AED sits in the open or behind a locked door at a park like Delaney is left to local cities and leagues, not state law.
Two off-duty doctors were also at the softball game that day. Dr. Danielle Henry arrived while CPR was already in progress, then turned on the AED and placed the pads on James's chest herself. Dr. Phil Flaherty responded to the emergency as well, and later told the station that the moment felt entirely different from his usual work in a hospital.
Every Minute Counted
James regained a pulse within minutes of the AED being deployed, and he was transported to a hospital. That speed mattered enormously: the American Red Cross has found that a cardiac arrest victim's chance of survival drops by roughly 10% for every minute that CPR and AED use are delayed. National registry data compiled through the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival shows overall out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival to discharge sits at 10.5%, but climbs to 15.5% when a bystander applies an AED before paramedics arrive, according to the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation. Public settings like ballfields also see a notably higher 20.9% survival rate to discharge compared with the overall average, largely because there are more witnesses and faster access to defibrillators.
James called the timing and intervention of everyone who stepped in unbelievable. His daughter, Ariana, said she felt relieved when he finally woke up, and DePaolo — still in his Angels jersey — was one of the first people James saw after regaining consciousness. James has since connected Ariana's middle name, Angel, to the rescue that saved him.
Legal Cover for the Rescuers
Florida's Good Samaritan Act and its companion Cardiac Arrest Survival Act granted the off-duty doctors and bystanders who intervened legal protection from civil liability, since they acted gratuitously and in good faith during the emergency, according to The Florida Senate. Those statutes exist precisely so off-duty medical workers and untrained parents alike do not hesitate when someone collapses in a public park.
Delaney Park Little League, the volunteer-run nonprofit founded in 1954 that hosts games on the 7.25-acre park, has been open about the tension between securing valuable medical equipment and keeping it instantly reachable. The league has noted that the City of Orlando's Capital Improvement Plan includes funding to replace the park's aging concession stand and expand its facilities as enrollment grows past 500 players, according to Delaney Park Little League. The city separately runs Take Heart Orlando, a public safety initiative that has trained more than 150,000 residents in hands-only CPR and AED use, and Central Florida agencies including Orange County Fire Rescue integrate 911 dispatch with the PulsePoint app, which alerts nearby CPR-trained bystanders and maps AED locations during public emergencies, per Orange County Government Florida. Winter Garden, where DePaolo serves as battalion chief, runs its own Public Access Defibrillation program placing AEDs in high-traffic municipal locations across the region.
Five months later, James is recovering and was able to sit face-to-face with the people who kept him alive — the friend who ran for help, the man who knew the door code, and the two doctors who happened to be watching a softball game instead of working a shift.
