A man bleeding heavily from a chainsaw accident was transported in the back of a police car to hospital Tuesday afternoon.
Police became involved in the medical emergency after pulling over a vehicle on Highway 16 at Shelley Road.
One of the occupants of the speeding vehicle had, moments earlier, cut a gash in the upper part of his left leg.
"The member was worried about saving the leg and saving the victim's life so he made a decision to transport the victim in the back of the police vehicle rather than wait for an ambulance," said Staff Sgt. Pat McTiernan of the region's RCMP traffic services
department.
The victim and a friend sat in the rear of the police vehicle and applied pressure to the wound while the Mountie engaged lights and sirens and set off for the hospital. The situation was radioed ahead to BC Ambulance Service paramedics, who set off to meet them en route.
The Mountie met up with the paramedics but it was determined the police car should just carry on without stopping to switch the patient into the ambulance.
McTiernan said this was an example of what police are trained and empowered to do, even though it might have seemed like a time where, in the movies, a police escort would have done the job.
"We will not do escorts. Police do not pilot civilian vehicles in those circumstances," said McTiernan, explaining that experience long ago established the dangers of that practice. Other motorists fixate on the police escort vehicle and sometimes fail to notice the trailing civilian vehicle. There have been disastrous consequences. It is safer for the police vehicle to act alone, as was done in this instance.
"It is also preferable to the civilian speeding down the highway," he added. "That makes for traffic hazards. The situation is heated, the people involved are excited, there can be a lot of distractions for a driver with an injured person beside them, the driver could even be suffering from shock. It is better that someone is behind the wheel who has some training for dynamic situations, and let the other parties focus on the victim."
The RCMP vehicle rolled up to the emergency room doors at University Hospital of Northern B.C. at about 3 p.m. and handed the patient over to medical care. Police were not told any of the details of how the chainsaw incident occurred and were not aware of the patient's condition after ER staff took over.
