Page 55 - February 2017

ff t of cer s r n s nto ct on to he nshot ct m
n BY DAN CAMPANA
Being off duty and at home didn’t stop Chicago Police Officer David Nicholl from jumping into action to help a man struck by gunfire.
Nicholl, who has been with the department for two years, was starting his day on Jan. 22 when gunfire rang out near his residence in the 12th District.
“I was just waking up when I heard some gunshots outside my house. It was across the street,” Nicholl said, adding that he grabbed his badge and gun before head- ing out to see what happened.
He came upon a woman holding a wounded 25-year- old man, who Nicholl identified as having a gunshot wound to the chest, above his lung. Nicholl told the woman to put pressure on the wound as he ran to call 911 and retrieve a medical kit from the trunk of his car. He also instructed his roommate to dial 911, too.
“As many people as (can) call ... is best,” he said in an interview posted on Facebook by the department.
With kit in hand, Nicholl ran back toward the man
when he noticed a second person suffering from a gun- shot wound. The person had been hit in the lip and was bleeding profusely, but Nicholl determined the second victim to not be critically injured.
Nicholl applied “quick clot” to the man’s chest wound, which helped stop the bleeding, and held it compressed until paramedics from the Chicago Fire Department ar- rived.
“They were pretty fast,” Nicholl said.
The Chicago Police Foundation distributed hundreds of medical kits in October to officers who had gone through Law Enforcement Medical and Rescue Training, also known as LEMART. The foundation hopes to put 2,000 kits in the hands of officers to have them ready to take potentially lifesaving action in an emergency.
“I’m not a paramedic,” said Nicholl, who is assigned to the 6th District. “I just do what my training has taught me to do.” d
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