KITCHENER -- A Guelph police officer is being credited with saving a man's life after an industrial accident on Tuesday morning.
According to a news release, the man had been using a circular grinding saw when it slipped and cut his arm near the wrist. Police said that the man severed an artery and was bleeding profusely.
Paramedics were on their way but Const. Michael Braga, an officer with the traffic unit, realized he was close to the scene and started heading that way.
He was first on scene and found the injured man in a locker room with a co-worker who was applying pressure to the wound. According to the release, the man was pale and looked like he was in shock.
After diagnosing the situation, Braga suspected the man had severed an artery and applied a tourniquet around his bicep. In doing so, he was able to "significantly reduce the bleeding," officials said.
Paramedics arrived shortly after and took the injured man to hospital, where he had surgery.
A Ministry of Labour investigator reached out to the Guelph Police Service on Tuesday night and said that she believed Braga had saved the man's life.
"I'm glad things turned out in a positive light," the news release quotes Braga. "I'm sure anyone else working for GPS would have done the same thing I did."
He also gave a nod to the dispatcher for giving him the information he needed to act quickly when he arrived on scene.
The injury is now under investigation by the Ministry of Labour.
