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MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Minneapolis Police Sgt. Chuck Peter was the third officer on-scene near the tracks at 44th and Lyndale on Saturday.
Ten-year-old Quintin Moore had been jumping on and off a slow-moving train when part of his leg was severed. Sgt. Peter said the closest fire truck carrying first responders with far more medical training got held up on the way by another train.
“We do see traumatic incidents a lot with our job, but to see it with such young kids, it's worse,” he said.
Sgt. Peter said his two fellow officers applied a tourniquet to Quintin's leg to stop him from bleeding out, likely saving his life. Just five years ago, SWAT team members were the only ones to carry tourniquets. Now, every Minneapolis officer has one, but Sgt. Peter said Quintin's friends also played a critical role.
“I reminded them as well as their parents, yes what they did was wrong, but it really showed their character that they stayed with their friend and waited for us to arrive and help us, too,” he said.
For that, he took the kids out for ice cream at Dairy Queen the next day. Quintin suffered the most that day, but the youngsters all went through a lot, and had some healing to do, too.