Kansas City officer uses tourniquet to help save girl’s life after shot in drive-by

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    KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) — An 11-year-old girl that was shot in a drive-by shooting Sunday night may have a police officer and his use of a tourniquet to thank for being alive.

KCTV5 News talked with Officer Jeremy Chick at Metro Patrol who says his first worry was tourniquets are made for adults.

“I had to put it pretty high up on her arm to stop the artery,” Chick said.

He went on to say the 11-year-old was shot in the bicep. He’s certain she would not have survived if he hadn’t of been carrying a tourniquet and was trained to use it.

“The floor was covered, bed was covered. She lost a lot of blood,” Chick said.

She was asleep in her bedroom when someone shot into the house Sunday night leaving bullet holes in the house near Bannister and James A Reed.

Chick pulled a tourniquet from his vest and warned the girl. She dug her nails into his arm as he asked her about things like her favorite song.

“Most people have never had a tourniquet put on. If you train with them you know that they hurt. They are painful. So I told her, ‘hey this is going to hurt, but it’s to help’,” Chick said.

Chick says the Sandy Hook shooting is what prompted him to get training and start carrying tourniquets.

Since 2017, every officer does, with training and supplies provided by Truman Medical Center’s “Stop the Bleed Program.”

This is the fourth time Officer Chick has used a tourniquet to save a life.

“It’s what I’m sworn to do. It’s what this city deserves,” Chick said.

A recruit he’s training, Dillon Viets, also stepped in to apply pressure to a bullet wound in the girl’s stomach.

Hospital staff says the girl will survive but her arm was severely injured.

Police don’t know who fired the shots and urge anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

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