Kentucky officers survive deadly tornado and save injured girl
Graves County Sherriff's Sgt. Richard Edwards, who was in his patrol car when the deadly tornado hit Kentucky, describes surviving the storm and rescuing others.
Kentucky residents are hailing two local police deputies as heroes for rescuing an injured girl moments after narrowly escaping their own death as a deadly tornado passed through their community.
Graves County Sheriff's Deputy Chandler Sirls and Sergeant Richard Edwards were in their patrol cars just outside of Mayfield, Kentucky, when the tornado ravaged the area Friday evening.
Edwards told Fox News he was driving on the highway when he found himself in the direct path of the tornado. His wife texted him to rush home, but it was too late. With debris flying and glass shattering around them, the men sheltered in their vehicles waiting for the worst to pass.
BIDEN TRAVELS TO KENTUCKY TO SURVEY TORNADO DAMAGE
"I saw the black mass above us and by the time I blinked my eyes it was already on top of us. We didn’t have time to react or anything," Edwards told "Fox and Friends First." "I grabbed the steering wheel… you know, you pray, you hold on and hope for the best."
When things finally calmed down, the officers left their cars to assess the damage – which was severe. It was then that they heard desperate cries for help in the distance.
"In the faint background, 300 yards, we saw a flashlight, so we ran to those people to see if we could help. Once we got to their houses they started screaming. There was people in the background yelling for help," Edwards said.
"The road was covered in debris, powerlines, transformers, so we couldn’t cross. So we went back out to the field. We ran about 300 yards to the house, which was decimated, and in the back corner, we found a female and a male."
Jessaundra Jackson, right, an employee of Mayfield Consumer Products, hugs another person at the conclusion of a candlelight vigil in the aftermath of tornadoes that tore through the region several days earlier, in Mayfield, Ky., late Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The female was bleeding profusely from her right leg, Edwards said. The officers applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, but it would only buy them so much time.
"We knew we had to get her to the hospital," Edwards said. "But the road was so bad, we knew medics couldn’t get to us. So we decided to transport ourselves."
The officers found an unattached door and laid the woman on in it, improvising for a stretcher.
"We ran her downstairs and down the driveway to our vehicle where we transported her to the hospital," Edwards said.
The officer said he is convinced the girl would not have survived had they not been there at the time.
Emergency workers search through what is left of the Mayfield Consumer Products Candle Factory after it was destroyed by a tornado in Mayfield, Kentucky, on December 11, 2021. (Photo by John Amis / AFP) (Photo by JOHN AMIS/AFP via Getty Images) ((Photo by JOHN AMIS/AFP via Getty Images))
"She began going into shock. She lost so much blood we had to do something," he said. "It’s not normal practice for us to transport, but at that time I decided that was the best thing for us to do, to get her to the hospital. She wouldn’t have made it had we not given her care."
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Edwards said that while he has not yet made contact with her or her family, he has received word that the girl is stable and will pull through.
Seventy-four people, including 12 children, in Kentucky lost their lives during last weekend’s violent weather. At least 100 people are still reported missing.