Facebook video post, I apologize for that, I could not find it anywhere else online as of this post. I just want to do a quick post on this video and cover some topics. Two Denver LEO's get flagged down for a guy with a gun, up on contact guy fires 5 shots at LEO's, LEO's fire 13 rounds at guy. Guy does not make it per the articles I read.
First and foremost watch the video from start to finish. Might need to watch it twice to get all the nuance.
There is an unwritten rule of getting shot / TQ application. If you get shot and there is still shooting that needs to be done at that moment you keep shooting until you can stop. Once the shooting stops, it becomes your job to get out of the fight if you are shot and need to get medical attention. If you believe you are shot and in immediate need of medical attention you need to move away from the battle space and into an area you can be safely treated. If you are able to hold a gun, you are able to put on your own tourniquet. If you are shot in an appendage and you are still able to functionally use that appendage (like stand on the shot leg) that would indicate that you need to seek medical attention as soon as you reasonably can. If you are shot you should immediately defer to someone who is trying to help you and is not shot. You are immediately thrown into the highest level that your heart can functionally manage. Your adrenaline is flooding your system and you will likely feel like superman, that is a natural response to a serious situation your body is experiencing. You should allow whoever is on scene with you to evaluate you and provide the medical response necessary.
In the video the shooting officer refused to move from cover and the other officer had to put a CAT TQ
on him while he stood there supposedly bleeding enough to require a TQ, which brings me to another issue. If you believe you are shot enough that you may require a TQ to be applied to one of your appendages, this means you are literally about to die and there is no level of will power or "officering the fuck up" that is going to stop you from bleeding out. With that in mind, seeing dark red blood from a gun shot wound is not uncommon and is likely nearly everywhere on the body. The thing to watch out for bright red pulsating blood. You have to find the wound area and you have to inspect it. If that means stripping that officer or cutting that officer's clothing off right there and him free-balling it, so be it. Dignity means nothing when you are possibly bleeding to death. It became clear about 30 seconds after the TQ was applied that the shot officer was not hit anywhere a TQ was required to be applied. The caveat is that if the bullet is still lodged in his leg, it may hit something vital during excessive movement, so moving is not smart, meaning he should have found cover, sat down and waiting for EMS to show up.The shot officer completely disregarded all advise and commands by the other officer. He wouldn't put his own TQ on, he wouldn't back down from cover allowing his partner to be exposed to possible fire, he wouldn't sit down and he was still "working" while he should have been focused on his own health because he was shot. LEO's have a tendency to try to get in control and stay in control of every situation to their best ability. Sometimes in determent to themselves and possibly others. If the shot officer was actually shot seriously enough that the TQ was warranted he would have likely started to lose the ability to stand very quickly and would have became another problem the supporting officer would have had to solve, this is highly illogical.
If you are by yourself and you have to figure out how to apply a TQ on yourself and cover any possible threats that requires a different set of responsibilities and priorities that is one thing. When you are a LEO with a partner or other LEOs who are going to be there very shortly, the moment you can remove yourself after being shot you do so immediately as you are not viable enough to sustain a confrontation unless you get cleared by someone who is not shot, understand how gunshot wounds work and what needs immediate medical attention, or not. With this in mind, if you put a TQ on someone you believe is bleeding out due to an arterial bleed, you need to get them to a hospital immediately. If someone is bleeding out from being shot, stabbed or internal bleeding from trauma and a TQ is used on them, they need to be taken via emergency transport to a level 1 trauma center immediately. There is absolutely zero time to waste. I cannot stress this enough.
Lastly, LEO's are getting to a point where they default to putting a TQ on everything even remotely applicable. That's awesome and we should train LEO's to level up their medical knowledge and how it is applicable to interpersonal violence.