Alexander police officer receives Life Saving Citation

Alexander Police Officer Matthew A. Wharton was presented with a Life Saving Citation by Assistant Police Chief Richard Harper during the city’s December council meeting. The citation recognizes Officer Wharton for actions he took at a traffic accident in June of 2018.

Harper read the citation during the presentation which describe an accident on June 27 between a car and motorcycle. The accident was at the south end of the Hwy 111/I-30 interchange during evening rush hour traffic. When Officer Wharton arrived the citation describes the scene as “Chaotic.”

Assistant Police Chief Richard Harper (L) presents
Life Saving Citation to Officer Matthew Wharton.

After he, “[W]orked to stabilize the scene,” before losing twilight, Officer Wharton assessed the injuries of the drivers and saw that, “The motorcycle operator had a compound fracture to his right leg that was bleeding at a life-threatening rate.”

Life Saving bar and medallion.

The citation credits Officer Wharton’s past experience as a United States Army Combat Medic with diagnosing, “[T]he seriousness of the wound and also that the man was drifting into shock.”

After moving the individual to a safer location Officer Wharton applied a tourniquet, “[E]ffectively stopping the extreme blood loss,” the citation states. “Officer Wharton’s immediate implementation of emergency training and presence of mind under extreme conditions undoubtedly saved the man’s life.”

Besides being presented with a citation Wharton also received the Life Saving bar and medallion.

(Photos provided by Alexander Police Department.)