Police Officers Save 18-Year Old's Life Using Tourniquet

PARK FOREST, IL — Four police officers in Park Forest are being praised for their work in helping save the life of an 18-year-old man who was bleeding badly after punching his arm through the window of a home in the 200 block of Indiana Street in the early morning Monday hours.

Sergeant Paul Morache and Officers James Jachymiak, David Habecker and Tierra Scott, the first to respond around 1:45 a.m. on May 11, used a tourniquet to the man's injured arm after arriving on the scene of a report of the man having a psychotic episode, according to a Park Forest Police Department statement shared on social media.

According to the statement, the man had "suffered a severe laceration to his arm after punching through a window" and was "bleeding profusely with a significant amount of blood loss."

Paramedics then arrived to treat the man and he was rushed to an area hospital, where it was determined he suffered a tear to his brachial artery and "would not have survived his injury without the rapid application of the tourniquet," police said.

The police department's statement said the officers' actions were "a demonstration of an outstanding, professional response to a critical incident."