HOWELL TOWNSHIP, N.J. — An EMT and police officer saved the life of an 82-year-old man after he was run over by a garbage truck Thursday.
Howell Police EMS EMT Ryan Gerrity and Cpl. Matthew Bishop responded to the scene, where they found the man was run over by a large garbage truck. The man’s leg was amputated and he suffered multiple traumatic injuries and was bleeding out.
Bishop immediately applied a tourniquet from his medical bag to the man’s thigh to stop femoral bleeding, wrote Howell Police Chief Andrew Kudrick on the department’s Facebook page.
Gerrity applied a tourniquet to the victim’s arm, a move that likely saved the man’s life, Kudrick wrote. The victim was then transported to the hospital, where he is in serious condition.
“I was just doing my job,” Cpl. Bishop said.
While the crash is still under investigation, preliminary reports did not find the garbage truck driver at fault.