An intense video of an RCMP officer and a civilian performing first aid on a man believed to be overdosing in the back of a moving pickup truck has surfaced.

The footage is from a September incident in Athabasca, Alta – about 145 kilometres north of Edmonton – that originally involved a small car crash. A pickup truck and a car collided when the female driver of the truck was rushing to get her male friend to the hospital. Her friend was believed to be overdosing on fentanyl.

Instead of being upset by the crash, the woman in the car joined an RCMP officer in the bed of the truck to perform lifesaving actions after it became apparent that the ambulance was 17 minutes away.

“The member on the scene decided that time was of the essence, that it was critical to get this man to the hospital, so they didn’t wait for EMS to arrive,” Cpl. Laurel Scott told CTV Edmonton.

Dash-cam footage from a following police cruiser shows the officer giving the man chest compressions while the civilian gives him mouth-to-mouth. The truck can be seen driving through a neighbourhood before getting onto the highway.

“I can’t imagine the adrenaline level of the people in the back of that truck, in the vehicle following,” said Scott. “Your heart rate goes up; you feel the adrenaline, even in training.”

Once the truck arrived at the hospital, paramedics were able to take over for the RCMP officer and civilian and saved the man’s life.

According to police, the officer on scene did not have access to a naloxone kit – an antidote to opioid overdoses – as they were not made available to every detachment at that time. If the officers had naloxone, they may have been able to administer it at the scene and wait for EMS to arrive.

The officer and civilian have asked RCMP to remain anonymous.

With a report from CTV Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson