VA police officers hailed as heroes for accident response

The officers — Lt. John Pruett, Lt. Phillip Schalk, Cpl. Terrell McCollough and Officer Blaine Murrell — were on their way to a training session at a local firing range, but they never made it to their destination.

“We were driving up Marble Hill Road and there was a tree-trimming truck, some stuff in the road and a car in a yard,” said Pruett, a 21-year officer at the medical center. “We thought it was a branch from a tree or a power line, and they had us stopped.”

The situation, however, was more dire than initially thought — Pruett and McCollough had come upon a two-vehicle collision with serious injuries to an adult and six young children.

Though away from VA property on a narrow, hilly two-lane road, their training kicked in, and for a while, they were the only first responders on the scene. 

“I heard screaming, and it wasn’t a normal scream,” McCollough recalled. “We got out of the truck and started walking toward the vehicle about 100 yards away, and about halfway there, I saw the adult male turn around while holding a little kid, and he was covered in blood.

“We took off running and got over there. Everyone was incoherent and we realized we had a bad situation.”

McCollough, with a medical background as a licensed practical nurse, immediately began triaging the victims, looking for bleeds and life-threatening injuries.

“I told John to run and grab the medical kit” from the truck, McCollough said, “and we got everyone laid down and we started treating.”

At that point, Schalk and Murrell, who has been a paramedic for more than 20 years, arrived on the scene.

“We saw Lt. Pruett run from the back of their trailer with a medical bag, so we got out to see what was going on. As soon as we exited the vehicle, we could hear kids screaming,” said Murrell.

As they approached, Murrell said, the scene was chaotic, and Schalk, knowing his partner was a paramedic, deferred to his experience. “I told him, ‘This is your scene, and we’ll go with whatever you say,’” Schalk noted.

“The gentleman, I could tell he was breathing, so I tried to rouse him and get a response, but he didn’t open his eyes,” Murrell said. “He was breathing OK, so I went to see what else was going on.

“About that time, Cpl. McCollough pointed me toward one of the children who had a pretty bad head laceration. I did a quick triage and made decisions on who I thought needed to go (via ambulance to the hospital) first.”

The tree company crew, all uninjured, told the VA officers they had called the local sheriff’s department, but had only reported an accident without noting the severity of the injuries.

Murrell knew the initial EMS response would not be enough, so he called them himself.

“I’ve been a paramedic for 20-something years, and I know a lot about how they dispatch things,” Murrell noted. “When they’re called for a traffic accident like that, generally you’ll get 1, maybe 2 trucks, but I wanted to clarify and make sure we had enough. They sent four ambulances straight out.”

When EMS showed up on the scene and saw it was Murrell, Schalk noted, “they left him alone and let him do his thing. They knew he had a lot of knowledge, so they just said, ‘tell us which one is ready to go.’”

One by one, under Murrell’s guidance, the man and the children were stabilized, packaged and loaded into waiting ambulances, and ultimately, everyone survived.

Reflecting back, McCollough said, it was “very fortunate that we happened to show up at the right time and could start to render aid, and we’re really fortunate that Schalk and Murrell came up. I mean, we had a nurse and a paramedic … what’s the chance they show up on the scene, along with 2 police officers who have been doing this a long time. 

“Everybody just flowed, everything worked very well.”

Murrell agreed, noting “Everybody kept their heads about them. For people who don’t have as much medical background as I do, they all kept their heads.” 

Murrell, according to Schalk, “was a true rock star. I could see where he fell into his knowledge and experience … we were watching somebody who knew exactly what to do, and he definitely made us look good.”

James Patterson, acting police chief at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center, said “VA Police train year-round on what actions to take in any given situation, from mass-casualty incidents to active-shooter incidents. They were at the right place at the right time, and I am extremely proud of these four officers for the actions they took that day to save lives."

Calling his officers “true heroes,” Patterson said their quick thinking and swift assessment of the situation allowed them to act in tandem to save life and limb. 

“Officer Murrell's expert guidance ensured all officers worked together to triage this family prior to other EMS personnel arriving on scene,” said Patterson, adding “These officers embody the professionalism of each member of our police family.”