San Marcos Police Chief Chase Stapp told the Austin American Statesman the impact from the vehicle instantly severed Cormier’s leg. Police officers — including Cormier’s husband, a San Marcos officer also on duty that night — rushed to the scene. A nurse from Seton Medical Center Hays who happened to be passing by stopped to help.
The nurse used T-shirts to fashion makeshift tourniquets to stop the bleeding, an act that likely saved the officer’s life, Stapp said. Other officers who arrived shortly after applied three more tourniquets before emergency medical crews took Cormier to Seton Medical Center Hays, where she underwent surgery.
Stapp said Cormier spoke with him late Monday through video chat and assured him that she would be back.
“She’s got a long road ahead of her,” Stapp said. “This is a devastating injury, but Claudia is a fighter, she is courageous, she’s strong.”