LESSONS TO LEARN: Vegas cops apply tourniquet on suspect they just shot

Las Vegas police released video of two of their officers engaged in their 13th gun battle of the year on July 24th. In the dramatic video, the officers trade shots with William Alfredo Chafoya, 37. In addition to hitting Chafoya, his female companion also caught a round in the wrist during the exchange. Officers then applied a tourniquet to Chafoya, saving his life after an apparent femoral artery hit.

The video released by the LVMPD shows the shootout from multiple angles. It also showed just how chaotic a gun battle can quickly become. In the end, the male suspect earned himself 19 fresh bullet holes.

Chafoya, police say, had fled from a traffic stop in a stolen Honda. After a brief chase, he crashed and police rolled up right behind him.

In the video, you can see how trying to apply a tourniquet can be difficult. Blood makes things slippery and it took at least two attempts before the officers could properly stop the bleed.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has the story and the video:

A Metropolitan Police Department field training officer and his trainee fired 26 shots during a shootout in a North Las Vegas residential neighborhood.

William Alfredo Chafoya, 37, was struck by 19 shots fired by the officers in the Monday confrontation. Ashley Elizabeth Olivetti, 31, who was with Chafoya, was struck in the arm by an officer’s round during the crossfire, Assistant Sheriff Todd Fasulo said at a briefing Thursday. Initial reports said she was shot by Chafoya.

Fasulo said Chafoya fired five shots during the encounter — at least one into the air and then in the direction of the officers. …

 

Both suspects are in stable condition at University Medical Center and have been booked into the county jail in absentia, Fasulo said.

The incident began about 5 p.m., as officers Tyler Hebb, 35, and Brandon Foster, 22, were doing an investigative follow-up on a nonfatal shooting that occurred Sunday. In that case, a bicyclist was shot in the calf by someone in a stolen Honda.

Here's the video. CAUTION: GRAPHIC CONTENT AND LANGUAGE

One final takeaway from the story and video concerns tourniquets. The average civilian will never approach a bad guy to render life-saving aid. Especially when there's any chance that the criminal may continue an earlier attack.

However, it might be a loved one or other innocent person who catches a round in a bad situation. Having a tourniquet on hand can make all the difference between life and death in the aftermath of a gun battle. [ED: Read Jon Wayne Taylor's 'Combat Medic: What to Do if Someone Else is Shot' here and former EMT Nick Leghorn's '3 First Aid Tools Every Shooter Should Have In Their Range Bag' here.]

If you don't have a tourniquet handy on a daily basis — on your person, in your backpack or in your vehicle —  it's worth spending  a few bucks to change that.  The life you save might be your own!