An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer is being praised by the Department of Homeland Security after providing lifesaving care to a motorist injured in a crash in Missouri, DHS said Tuesday.
DHS identified the officer as Curtland Sawyer, assigned to ICE’s St. Louis sub-office. Sawyer was driving home on July 11 when he witnessed a vehicle collide with a tractor-trailer outside Festus, Missouri. He immediately stopped, applied a tourniquet to the driver’s arm to stop severe bleeding and stayed with the injured motorist until emergency medical technicians arrived, the department said.
“ICE law enforcement officer Curtland Sawyer immediately delivered lifesaving medical care to a driver who was involved in a serious collision with a tractor-trailer in Missouri. Officer Sawyer is a hero,” DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. Bis added that ICE officers “don’t hesitate to spring to action to help” and encouraged the public to thank them for their service.
DHS noted Sawyer’s actions are part of several recent rescues involving ICE personnel. Last month, an officer in Florida jumped into a pool to save a 6-year-old and performed CPR, and ICE officers in Milwaukee freed a woman trapped in an overturned vehicle after a driver allegedly ran a red light.