A rollover on Interstate 10 in rural Pecos County left one motorist with a traumatic amputation and rapidly worsening blood loss. The driver survived because a Texas state trooper arrived before paramedics and replaced a failing improvised tourniquet with department-issued gear.
The crash happened June 24 on westbound I-10 near mile marker 230, where emergency crews were dispatched to a rollover, according to an account posted Tuesday by TxDPS - West Texas Region. Trooper Monte Jackson reached the scene before emergency medical personnel, assessed the patient and took over bleeding control.
Trooper Replaced Belt Tourniquet With DPS Equipment
The injured motorist had suffered a traumatic amputation of the left arm above the elbow and was losing blood rapidly. A bystander tried to help with a belt, but it was not creating enough pressure to stop the hemorrhage, so Jackson applied a department-issued tourniquet to the victim’s upper arm and bought time for paramedics to arrive.
Pecos County EMS said Jackson’s intervention was instrumental in stabilizing the patient before advanced medical care. Dr. Gregory B. York, trauma medical director at Medical Center Health System in Odessa, credited the trooper’s quick assessment and proper tourniquet application with achieving immediate hemorrhage control in the DPS account.
West Texas Crash Response Highlights Trooper Medical Training
The response fits a pattern the Texas Department of Public Safety has highlighted in recent lifesaving commendations. In April, the agency recognized Trooper Jeffrey Constant for applying tourniquets to a motorcyclist with critical leg injuries in Ector County, while Trooper Travis Alewine was honored for controlling severe bleeding after an I-20 rollover crash, according to the DPS awards report.
The good Samaritan who first tried to help the Pecos County crash victim left before investigators could identify the person. DPS is asking anyone with information about that individual to contact the Fort Stockton DPS office at (432) 366-1080.
