Police officer saves teen’s life

A teenager remains at the Regional Medical Center (MED) in Memphis after being stabbed in the chest by her mother. However, without the efforts of one police officer, the teenager would not have survived.
Sgt. Tommy Naylor with the Whiteville Police Department responded to the 911 call at Super 8 Motel in Whiteville on Friday, September 18 and said he immediately realized it was a more serious situation than he expected.
“When I got there, I told them to move the bandages. I was expecting to see a superficial cut or maybe a penetrating wound,” Naylor said. “I did not expect to see parts of the human anatomy. You could see her lung and plural sack.” The scissors had punctured one of the teen’s lungs.
In addition to being a police officer, Naylor is a retired E5 infantryman with the Tennessee Army National Guard and worked as a medic for the Hardeman County EMS for approximately 11 years. He is now a medic with the Hardeman County Rescue Squad.
Naylor said he used his son’s (who is a Combat Life Saver with the National Guard) combat medic bag to work on the teenager at the scene.
“We did what we call an Asherman Chest Seal to get it where she (teen) could breath. Her breathing improved and then EMS and Air Wing got there,” Naylor said. “After they got there, I went back into cop mode.”
Whiteville Police Chief Steven Stanley said if Naylor had not been on the scene, the teen may not have survived to make it to the hospital.

To view more, please log in or subscribe to the digital edition.