Ex-Navy SEAL congressman saves bleeding 11-year-old with makeshift tourniquets after Iowa crash
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisc., described the scene of a horrific highway crash that prompted him and other bystanders to help save an 11-year-old child this weekend.Van Orden told the Washington Examiner that he and his family were traveling in Iowa when he saw the crash in his rearview mirror."Im watching a Dodge Grand minivan disintegrate. It seemed to drift off the road at about 70 miles per hour, more so on the passenger side of the car. My wife, Sarah, was like, what happened? I looked at it, I said, someone just died," he told the outlet.Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL, said he quickly pulled his car over and rushed back to the scene.TEXAS LAWMAKER DEMANDS JUSTICE AFTER AIR FORCE CADET KILLED BY ILLEGAL MIGRANT SUSPECTS IN HIT-AND-RUN"I ran to the passenger side, where all the damage was, and there was this 11-year-old kid. And I looked at him, and his calf, which is about as big as my thigh, was completely ripped apart, so I could see his tibia and his fibula, just a big chunk of him bleeding. And he had an arterial bleed in his right wrist," Van Orden said.DRAMATIC VIDEO SHOWS HERO COPS DRAG DAZED DRIVER FROM CAR BEFORE TRAIN SMASHES INTO IT"By then, probably 10 people had also pulled over to help. Im like, does somebody have a knife? And theyre like, yep. So I cut the seat belts off and then made tourniquets," he added."Some big old Iowa farm dude, probably 60-something, rips off a windshield wiper for his arm, then another lady there said she was a medic. She wound up grabbing a piece of metal and made a tourniquet on his leg, and then all of us packed him up and got him up into the ambulance," he continued."It took about 10 to 15 minutes. He wouldve bled to death," Van Orden said, noting that paramedics were quick to respond but were still miles away. "He wouldve been gone."DRAMATIC VIDEO SHOWS DUMP TRUCK PLOWING INTO NJ HOME AFTER DRIVER SUFFERS MEDICAL EMERGENCYVan Orden told the outlet that he visited the young man in the hospital on Monday, but he did not name the boy.A crash report from the Iowa State Patrol said the crash occurred when the minivan struck a semi-truck that was trying to merge onto the freeway from the shoulder.There were no fatalities reported in the crash, but both the boy and the van's driver were airlifted to a nearby hospital.