Ex-Navy SEAL congressman saves bleeding 11-year-old with makeshift tourniquets after Iowa crash

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., described the scene of a horrific highway crash that prompted him and other bystanders to help save an 11-year-old child this weekend.

Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL, said he quickly pulled his car over and rushed back to the scene.

"I ran to the passenger side, where all the damage was, and there was this 11-year-old kid. And I looked at him, and his calf, which is about as big as my thigh, was completely ripped apart, so I could see his tibia and his fibula, just a big chunk of him bleeding. And he had an arterial bleed in his right wrist," Van Orden said.

"By then, probably 10 people had also pulled over to help. I'm like, 'Does somebody have a knife?' And they're like, 'Yep.' So I cut the seat belts off and then made tourniquets," he added.

"Some big old Iowa farm dude, probably 60-something, rips off a windshield wiper for his arm, then another lady there said she was a medic. She wound up grabbing a piece of metal and made a tourniquet on his leg, and then all of us packed him up and got him up into the ambulance," he continued.

Van Orden told the outlet that he visited the young man in the hospital on Monday, but he did not name the boy.

There were no fatalities reported in the crash, but both the boy and the van's driver were airlifted to a nearby hospital.