Graves County Sheriff's Deputy Chandler Sirls told CNN his patrol car took a beating. (Photo: Graves County SO)
Graves County Sheriff's Deputy Chandler Sirls and Sergeant Richard Edwards were in their patrol vehicles outside of Mayfield, Kentucky, when a tornado ripped through the area Friday evening. They positioned themselves in the path of the tornado on purpose. According to Graves County Sheriff's Office, Sirls and Edwards "placed themselves in danger" so they could "tend to potential victims quickly." In flash, the tornado was directly on top of them.
"As the wind picked up and it picked up my vehicle and turned it sideways, I was trying to back up," Edwards told CNN Monday. "He (Sirls) was behind me, and we just couldn't do anything. We just sat there. We tried to duck down and just hold on."
After the tornado passed, Sirls and Edwards left their vehicles and began running to the nearest house for shelter. That's when they heard people screaming for help. Dodging downed power lines, they ran back to their battered units for their emergency kits, Southern Living reports.
With help from a third deputy, Chief Deputy Jeremy Prince, they pulled a young girl from the debris. She had suffered a broken leg and was "bleeding profusely."
"She was going into shock," Edwards told CNN. "We applied the tourniquet. We called for medics, (but) there's no way they could have got to us, so we went outside and found an old interior panel door and we used that as a backboard. We loaded her up."
