Rep. Derrick Van Olden Saves 11-Year-Old After Car Accident
Republican Rep. Derrick Van Olden from Wisconsin intervened heroically during a serious car accident, rescuing an 11-year-old boy.
He was traveling on Interstate 35 near Osceola, Iowa, with his wife Sarah, who has a background as a retired US Navy Seal, when they witnessed the crash. “I saw the Dodge Grand Minivan crumple,” he recounted. “My wife Sarah asked what had happened, and I told her, I think someone just died.”
Van Olden rushed to the wreckage, noting that he was pulled into the grassy median. Upon reaching the passenger side, he found the boy badly injured. “His calves were about the same size as my thighs and completely torn apart,” he said. “I could see his tibia and the muscle. He was bleeding heavily, with arterial bleeding in his right wrist.”
In a decisive move, he dashed to a nearby truck, grabbed a suitcase, and used two pairs of socks to fashion a tourniquet for the boy’s arms and legs. Around 10 other drivers stopped to assist, and he called out for a knife. Once he received one, he cut the seatbelt to apply an additional tourniquet.
“There was this big Iowa farmer, probably in his 60s, prying off the windshield wiper for use on the boy’s arm,” Van Olden recalled. “Then, a woman identified herself as a medic; she found a piece of metal and quickly fashioned a tourniquet for his leg. Together, we managed to stabilize him before he was loaded into the ambulance.”
According to Van Olden, it took about 10 to 15 minutes for emergency responders to arrive. He worried the boy might not make it. “He’s probably gone,” he thought at that moment.
Later, he visited the boy at a hospital in Des Moines, describing the meeting as touching and filled with gratitude. “What unfolded there embodies everything I love about America,” Van Olden reflected. “We were just bystanders, and look at what happened.”
As he tightened the boy’s tourniquet, he noticed several men had already stopped traffic on both sides to secure the scene. “It was incredible,” he said.
