WINK reporter Nick Spinetto certainly didn’t expect to end up in the hospital when he went out into the field last Friday afternoon. But through an unusual set of circumstances, that’s exactly what happened.
Spinetto was in the live truck preparing a story for the CBS-affiliate’s 4 p.m. newscast when he started to feel strange.
“Dizzy. Disoriented,” is the way Spinetto described the feeling in a recent email exchange with TVSpy. It turns out that he was suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.
“My photographer (who was also feeling sick) suspected carbon monoxide,” Spinetto told TVSpy. “He ordered me out of the truck, which is when I collapsed. He called 911. I was taken to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning. I was treated with oxygen then released after about 6 hours. The photographer was treated at the scene. I’m lucky he realized it was carbon monoxide. His quick actions saved my life.”
Spinetto says that he still feels sick and has been at home this week recuperating. Luckily, though, tests revealed that he doesn’t have any brain or lung damage.
The station is currently looking into what led to Spinetto’s carbon monoxide poisoning.