A Republican lawmaker’s quick actions, along with some help from bystanders, likely saved the life of an 11-year-old boy after the vehicle he was traveling in crashed along an interstate.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-MN) was driving along Interstate 35 near Osceola, Iowa, on Saturday when he spotted a car crash unfolding in his rearview mirror. “I’m watching a Dodge Grand minivan disintegrate. It seemed to drift off the road at about 70 miles per hour, more so on the passenger side of the car,” the Wisconsin Republican said. “My wife, Sarah, was like, what happened? I looked at it, I said, someone just died.”
The retired U.S. Navy SEAL said he quickly parked his truck in the grass median and ran over to see if he could help. “I ran to the passenger side, where all the damage was, and there was this 11-year-old kid, and I looked at him, and his calf, which is about as big as my thigh, was completely ripped apart, so I could see his tibia and his fibula, just a big chunk of him bleeding. And he had an arterial bleed in his right wrist.”
He hurried back to his truck, rummaged through his luggage, and took out two socks to use as makeshift tourniquets. “By then, probably 10 people had also pulled over to help, I’m like, does somebody have a knife? And they’re like, yep. So I cut the seat belts off and then made tourniquets.”
“Some big old Iowa farm dude, probably 60-something, rips off a windshield wiper for his arm, then another lady there said she was a medic. She wound up grabbing a piece of metal and made a tourniquet on his leg, and then all of us packed him up and got him up into the ambulance.”
Van Orden states that everyone’s quick actions helped save the boy’s life. Due to their remote location, first responders would not have arrived in time. “It took about 10 to 15 minutes. He would’ve bled to death. He would’ve been gone.”
The GOP lawmaker said he later went to visit the boy in the hospital. He told media outlets what happened embodies “everything that I love about America.” “We’re in the middle of somewhere, and this happens, and people just start showing up. They start asking, ‘Hey, can we do this? Can we do that?”
He said while he was helping attend the boy’s injuries, others were on the highway directing traffic. In an X post, Van Orden said the accident occurred on the second anniversary of his own daughter’s death.