A Wisconsin Congressman is being praised as a hero for saving an 11-year-old’s life after getting injured in a car crash, according to PEOPLE. A minivan crashed into a semi truck on Saturday, August 16, in Iowa, as Congressman Derrick Van Orden was driving with his family.
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How A Navy SEAL Congressman Saved An 11-Year-Old’s Life Using A Makeshift Tourniquet
They were heading to a memorial for his daughter, who had died two years prior. While on I-35 in Oscelola, Van Orden heard a minivan crash into a semi-truck that was parked on the side of the interstate.
“I heard a massive, massive boom,” he said to KCCI. The Congressman, and former Navy SEAL, was not too far ahead of the crash, so he stopped and turned around.
A 41-year-old woman was driving the minivan alongside an 11-year-old boy. After the accident, young Sawyer Whitt was bleeding badly.
According to Fox News, the boy suffered from an arterial bleed on his right wrist. He even had wounds on his calf that made his tibia and fibula visible.
“I ran back to our truck and opened up my suitcase and grabbed two pairs of socks,” said Van Orden. “It’s the only material that I had, and then I put up two constricting bands because there wasn’t enough for a tourniquet.”
As Van Orden came to the child’s rescue, he noticed more people arriving. “By then several more people arrived, and I asked if anyone had a knife, and a guy handed me a carpet cutter and I cut the seatbelts and used those as tourniquets for his arm and leg to stop the bleeding,” he continued.
11-Year-Old Boy Hailed For Bravery
First responders transferred the injured boy to a hospital, and Van Orden made sure to visit him. The Congressman praised Whitt for how brave he was during the ordeal.
“I made it through the scariest part,” said the boy.
Van Orden then spoke with the boy’s dad, which turned into an emotional conversation. “The dad and I had a conversation, and he didn’t obviously didn’t know we had lost our daughter, and I said I’m so thankful that you’re not going to be joining a club you don’t want a membership in,” said Van Orden.
“And I’ll be frank, the two dads got a little misty. Sorry, it’s beautiful.”
Iowa State Police later revealed that the 41-year-old driver was suspected of being impaired when the crash occurred. Police have yet to place any charges on the driver.