April 1, 2019
Steuben County Deputy Joseph Winters was recognized by the county Legislature’s Public Safety Committee Monday for his actions following a motor vehicle accident around 11:38 p.m. on February 5. Sheriff Jim Allard said Winters responded to a report of a vehicle traveling the wrong way on I-86 near Hornell, which then crashed into a concrete barricade. Winters, a participant in the sheriff department’s Emergency Medical Technician training and a volunteer firefighter for Gang Mills, determined the vehicle’s female operator required immediate emergency medical care due to a catastrophic leg trauma with extreme blood loss, according to Allard.
Winters applied a tourniquet to the female and stopped the bleeding in order to extract her from the wreckage, Allard said. Winters and a responding firefighter then extracted the woman and prepared her for transport, Allard said.
“In the midst of this traumatic scene you remained calm and professional at all times, clearly communicating to 911 and first responders what the condition of the female was and what resources you required,” Allard said. “Your alert actions in treating the operator of this vehicle kept her alive at the scene. Even though she later succumbed to her internal injuries in the hospital, your prompt assessment and treatment gave her the chance to receive further treatment at a medical facility.”
