Texas university professor suffers heart attack while teaching before students, Navy SEAL veteran save his life

Detailed summary

A Texas university law professor collapsed in front of his students — before being brought back by a Navy SEAL veteran, who he has since credited for saving his life.

A Texas university law professor suffered a heart attack in the middle of class — before being rescued by his students, including a Navy SEAL veteran, whom he has credited for saving his life.

Michael Maslanka, a 73-year-old associate professor, was delivering a lecture at the UNT Dallas College of Law when he ominously told his students he might not be able to continue before suddenly blacking out on Oct. 6.

“I just saw blackness,” the longtime litigator told the university Tuesday.

Among the students who rushed to his aid was third-year student Matthew Melton, a Navy SEAL veteran who had previously taught CPR classes while serving in the US Special Forces.

Melton, who was previously deployed to Bahrain in 2001 and Iraq in 2005, trained with the 18 Delta medics and field surgeons who worked to save lives on the battlefield.

The 45-year-old said his past experiences in conflict zones taught him to “always be able and ready to pivot and always be open to what might happen.”

“Students were freaking out. Action needed to be taken,” he told the law school.

Melton, who is training to become a lawyer, performed three rounds of CPR on the professor but he was still not out of the woods.

“He came back. Then he went out [of consciousness] again. I was going from chest compressions to forced air [in his mouth]. When I did the first compression, I could hear his ribs break.”

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