Media Release – February 17, 2021
A Guelph Police Service officer’s quick thinking is being credited with saving the life of a male who cut his wrist in an industrial accident Tuesday morning.
Approximately 8:20 a.m., a 911 call was received from a business in the area of Curtis Drive and Regal Road. The caller advised a co-worker had been using a circular grinding saw when it slipped and cut his arm near the wrist, causing it to bleed profusely.
While medical assistance from Guelph-Wellington EMS was being dispatched, Constable Michael Braga of the Guelph Police Service Traffic Unit realized he was close to the scene and began heading. Constable Braga was first on scene and was led to the injured worker, a 49-year-old Cambridge male, who was in a locker room with a co-worker and was applying pressure to the wound. The male appeared pale and possibly in shock.
Correctly believing the male had severed an artery, the constable applied a tourniquet around the male’s bicep and was able to significantly reduce the bleeding. EMS arrived a short time later and transported the injured male to hospital, where he underwent surgery.
The matter is under investigation by the provincial Ministry of Labour. An MOL investigator reached out to Guelph Police late Tuesday and said in her opinion Constable Braga’s quick action and correct use of the tourniquet had saved the male’s life.
“I’m glad things turned out in a positive light,” Constable Braga said in an email. “I’m sure anyone else working for GPS would have done the same thing I did.”
He also gave kudos to Guelph Police Service dispatch personnel “for relaying the right information so I was prepared when I arrived on scene.”
