Guy Has Heart Attack While Driving, Gets 3 Tickets

It sounds like a joke: a doctor's note reading, "Please forgive Mr. Langley's tickets due to his unfortunate experience of having a heart attack seconds prior to having his car accident." But no, this note really was delivered to a New Jersey municipal court, the Asbury Park Press reports. And even more bizarre is the fact that the court dismissed just two of the three tickets Dan Langley, 20, had received after the accident, which he does not remember. He was en route to a friend's house on April 1 when his car hit another vehicle at a traffic light; he got out, vomited, and then collapsed. No one was injured in the accident.

An officer who responded gave Langley CPR, and Langley ended up getting a defibrillator implanted in his chest. The same day, the mechanical engineering student received three tickets in the mail, from a different officer. The tickets for tailgating and unsafe operation of a motor vehicle were dismissed, but authorities only agreed to downgrade the third ticket from reckless driving to obstructing the passage of other vehicles, an offense that doesn't carry any points. But Langley did have to pay a $133 fine. "What's the charge?" grumbles his dad. "Criminal cardiac arrest?" (More heart attack stories.)