A teenager in Creek County is recovering after an accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg. Trooper Dustin Tiner was heading home after a long workday Monday when a radio call changed his plans.
According to KOKH, Tiner was heading home when he heard a call over the radio reporting a male suffering from a gunshot wound in Creek County. Realizing he was closer to the scene than the deputies already responding, he changed direction and rushed over instead of continuing home. When he arrived, he found a teenager suffering from an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg.
Tiner packed the wound and applied a tourniquet, keeping the bleeding under control until paramedics arrived on scene, the station's report states. That kind of fast, hands-on intervention is often the difference between a survivable injury and a fatal one when blood loss is severe.
Trooper Follows Ambulance to Stay With the Family
Tiner's involvement didn't end once paramedics took over. He followed the ambulance to the hospital so he could speak with the teen's parents, the same account notes, staying connected to the family through one of the most frightening moments they'll likely ever face.
At the hospital, an attending physician praised Tiner's lifesaving actions, stating that the wound packing and tourniquet application were outstanding and that the teenager would make a full recovery, per the same report. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which employs Tiner, credited him in a statement cited by the outlet: “His quick thinking, training, and compassion made a difference when every second counted.”
A Trooper With a Track Record of Stepping In
This isn't the first time Tiner's name has come up in connection with a life saved outside the usual scope of a traffic stop. Separate reporting from Sapulpa Times documented an incident in which Tiner helped a 2-year-old, Mackenzie Woods, after she lost part of her right arm in a September mowing accident in Kellyville. In that case, first responder Makayla Staiger created a tourniquet to staunch the bleeding, and Kellyville later awarded both Tiner and Staiger Life Saving Pins for their actions in saving Woods' life.
Quick improvisation with a tourniquet has shown up in other Oklahoma trooper cases over the years. In 2020, an Altus OHP trooper described retrieving a tourniquet from his patrol car to help a woman after a wreck, recalling, “At that point, the only thing I knew to do was go get the tourniquet from my patrol car,” according to KSWO. A separate 2022 account from KOCO told of a teen reuniting with the trooper who saved her life after a 10-car pileup during an ice storm, with one person saying, “If you waited a minute longer, she would've died.”
For now, the focus in Creek County remains on the teenager's recovery and on a trooper who didn't finish his drive home before changing course. The exact circumstances surrounding the accidental discharge have not been detailed publicly, but the outcome, according to the attending physician's assessment relayed by state troopers, points toward a full recovery.
