‘Erratic’ I-77 driver stopped breathing. Deputies revived him after rest area crash.

Deputies responding to reports of an SUV moving erratically on Interstate 77 revived the driver after finding him unconscious and no longer breathing following a rest area crash Tuesday.

Officers searched for the man after witnesses saw him weaving in the northbound lanes north of Statesville, said Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell in a news release on Wednesday.

The driver hit a guardrail and trash cans while pulling into the rest area, and his SUV ended up facing south in the northbound entrance lane, according to the sheriff.

Deputies found the driver “slumped over the steering wheel” and “unresponsive,” Campbell said.

Deputies “pried the driver’s door open, and then noticed the driver was not breathing,” the sheriff said.

They also saw drug paraphernalia and what they believed to be heroin in the SUV, according to Campbell.

The deputies pulled the driver from the SUV, laid him on the ground and administered two doses of Narcan through a nasal spray container, the sheriff said. Narcan is commonly used by emergency responders to revive people who overdose on drugs.

“The driver began breathing on his own and eventually gained consciousness,” Campbell said.

The State Highway Patrol is investigating the crash. The driver’s name and possible charges against him have not been released.