Oklahoma Police Officer Saved With Tourniquet After Shooting

By Bob Owens

An Oklahoma police officer is alive tonight thanks to a fast-acting Oklahoma County Sheriff’s deputy equipped with a tourniquet.

It started out as a normal traffic stop but ended with Valley Brook Officer Brian Southerland in the hospital.

Around 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Southerland was rushed to the emergency room in critical condition after being shot in the leg near I-240 and Eastern during a traffic stop.

Officials said the officer had his back turned and was making his way back to his vehicle when the driver shot him in the leg.

“It’s dangerous anytime you pull somebody over and, in this case, he had actually already made contact with the person he had pulled over and, then, he turned around to walk back to the vehicle,” said Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Spokesman Mark Opgrande. “A sheriff’s deputy arrived on the scene and began giving CPR and putting a tourniquet on him to stop the bleeding.”

Officer Southerland was hit in the femoral artery and lost consciousness after Cory Hartsell shot him and drove away. Hartsell was later arrested and and is being held on a $1 million bond.

After learning to use tourniquets at the Defense Against Street Crimes class (course review) at Gunsite …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms