Washington DC police officer saves 9 lives during first year on the streets
[August 16, 2021: Caroline Patrickis]
Officer Taylor Brandt from Arlington County has saved 9 lives since joining the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia. (CREDIT: MPD)
From a rookie to a pro, a Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC) patrol officer, Taylor Brandt, is being hailed a hero amongst fellow colleagues and community members after saving 9 lives within one year of working on the streets.
Brandt joined DC police in December 2019 as a resident from Arlington, Virginia.
Not long after being sworn in as a police officer, she hit the ground running.
Just two weeks into her field training, she ended up on scene of a victim who was shot multiple times.
"We saw a guy laying in the roadway concerned for his wellbeing," Officer Brandt explained. "He states he had been shot multiple times but we had no calls for a shooting, no sounds of gunshots and nothing pending."
That was the first time Officer Brandt applied her Tactical Emergency Casual Care training onto a real-life victim.
“Police generally arrive on the scene first," Brandt said. "We are the first on scene to provide medical care and our first goal is to preserve life which results in preventing blood loss.”
Officer Taylor Brandt demonstrates how to apply a tourniquet, which is a device used to apply pressure to a limb or extremity in order to limit the flow of blood. (CREDIT: Caroline Patrickis)
(TECC) training provides officers with hands-on training in tactical medical treatment guidelines and the proper use of the supplies included in the emergency care kits.
“Lots and lots of gunshot wounds unfortunately," Brandt stated. "We have a lot of problems with gun violence in the city currently.”
Officer Brandt quickly became familiar with victims suffering gunshot wounds.
“It really runs the gambit of the kind of violence and injuries you see in the sixth district" Brandt stated.
In August, Brandt marked one year with the police force. So far, she's saved nine lives.
Brandt said proudly, “Even within the district some people never get to do that.”
Commander of MPD Academy training, Ralph Ennis, said “I would challenge you to find one other police officer in this country that has saved nine people. It just doesn’t happen. She truly understands that policing is about helping people."
Officer Taylor Brandt and Commander Ralph Ennis walk outside the MPD Academy where Commander Ennis trains all incoming officers before they deploy to the streets. (CREDIT: Caroline Patrickis)
MPD rolled out TECC in 2014. “When I first came on police, I have seen so many people die in front of me because we didn’t have this level of training and now we have equipment and training is very refreshing to know that we are giving people another chance at life."
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Tags: #Good_News, #Kindness, #Compassion, #Life_Saving, #Police, #Gunshots, #The_Brighter_Side_of_News
