Army ‘Combat Life Saver’ course helped off-duty border officer aid injured pedestrian
An off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer aided to an unnamed pedestrian in a wheelchair who was injured by a single car in a motor vehicle collision on Wednesday, April 12, in Bellingham.
The officer was first at the accident scene and saw the pedestrian bleeding profusely from their right leg, according to a Friday, April 14, news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The officer and bystanders got the pedestrian out of the wheelchair and placed her on the ground to elevate her leg.
An off-duty firefighter from the Bellingham Fire Department arrived shortly after the officer began to assist and offered his belt to be used as a tourniquet. The officer then applied the belt as a tourniquet and assisted the pedestrian until Bellingham paramedics, police and fire arrived.
Paramedics took the pedestrian to St. Joseph hospital in Bellingham. No information on the pedestrian’s condition was available.
The officer is assigned to the Peace Arch Port of Entry in Blaine and knew how to assist the pedestrian after receiving tourniquet training while he completed the “Combat Life Saver” course with the U.S. Army, before joining U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
