Pullman man sustain life-threatening injuries from fireworks

July 5, 2021 Updated Mon., July 5, 2021 at 8:21 p.m.

From staff reports

A Pullman man in his 20s sustained life-threatening injuries Sunday night when a fireworks tube, used to launch an aerial display that he was bracing on his thigh, exploded and damaged his leg and apparently severed an artery.

Neighbors in the 300 block of Northwest Thomas Street tried to stop the bleeding with direct pressure to his groin area along with a belt tourniquet and called Pullman Fire Department.

Assistant Chief Ryan Scharnhorst, who was on the scene at around 11 p.m., said the work by neighbors helped, but it was the action of Pullman Police officer Brock Westerman applying a tourniquet as high as possible before fire personnel could arrive that may have saved the man from possibly bleeding out and dying.

Paramedics rushed the man to Pullman Regional Hospital where doctors were able to stabilize the patient. He was flown by a Lifeflight helicopter to Spokane’s Providence Sacred Heart Hospital for surgery.

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Pullman man sustain life-threatening injuries from fireworks

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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