Desert Hot Springs officers honored for saving man’s life
Two Desert Hot Springs Police Department officers were honored Tuesday evening for saving the life of a shooting victim back in August.
Sergeant Chris Saucier and Corporal Scott Hazen were honored and presented with “Life Saving Award” medals during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Saucier and Hazen were the first two officers to arrive at the scene of a shooting on the morning of Aug. 14, 2019 in the area of Acoma Avenue and Cactus Drive.
Read: Man shot in Desert Hot Springs
Residents reported a man had sustained a gunshot wound. Saucier and Hazen applied a tourniquet to the man before medics arrived to transport him to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs for treatment.
“If they did not put that tourniquet on, we would’ve had a homicide. They saved the individual’s life by doing what needed to be done,” said Desert Hot Springs Police Chief Jim Henson.
Henson added in his speech, “This shows you these two officers not only go out to calls to catch the bad guys, they’re here to prevent lives from being lost.”
According to Henson, this is Saucier’s second time using a tourniquet to save a life.
About two years ago, Saucier was in pursuit of a suspect, and in an attempt to get away, the suspect went through a window. Saucier caught up to the suspect and treated them.
A little over a year ago, Saucier received the Medal of Valor Award at the 22nd Annual Peace Officer and Public Safety Awards for talking a young boy from committing suicide.
Hazen serves as the department’s motorcycle officer, patrolling the city’s roads during high patrol hours.
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Hazen said he was actually in the middle of writing a traffic citation when he heard the call of the shooting come out. Hazen let the driver go, so he could respond to the shooting. He was the first officer to arrive at the scene.
Both officers said it’s part of the job and they just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
KESQ
