Police: Tourniquet May Have Saved Motorcyclist's Life

A Los Angeles Police Department detective who lost part of a leg when the motorcycle he was riding along with his 11-year-old daughter collided with another vehicle in Redondo Beach early on New Year's Day may have been saved by a nurse who placed a tourniquet on his injured limb, the Daily Breeze reported Friday.

The crash happened at 12:22 a.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Ruby Street, said Redondo Beach police Sgt. Jeff Mendence.

Both the detective—Shaun King, 41—and his daughter sustained life-threatening injuries and were taken to a hospital, Mendence said.

King's daughter Mackenzie suffered a compound fracture of her left leg and underwent surgery Friday, according to the Daily Breeze, which reported that both she and her father are expected to survive.

In King's case, his life may have been saved by a passing male nurse who stopped and used another man's belt as a tourniquet, the newspaper reported.

The driver of the vehicle that collided with the motorcycle, identified by police as 43-year-old Maria Urbina of Los Angeles, was not seriously injured, and her air bag deployed in the crash, according to the Daily Breeze.

Witnesses at the scene said King was going north on Pacific Coast Highway while Urbina was headed in the opposite direction when the collision occurred.

Lt. Andre Dawson, King's supervisor at the Los Angeles Police Department's Human Trafficking Unit, told the newspaper that the nurse "was Shaun's guardian."

Redondo Beach resident Jill Klausen, who lives nearby, called the intersection "a nightmare" in the comments on a previous Patch story about the incident. 

"We heard this crash and didn't even wait to see what actually happened, just called 911 immediately, then went out to render aid," she wrote. "We could tell it was horrifying just from the sound of it."

Klausen said her husband, Thomas, who brought first-aid supplies to the scene in a CERT backpack, helped apply the tourniquet to King's "bloody stump." 

"I had the daughter's blood all over my bathroom floor from the socks of the woman who tended to her, whom we offered to come clean up at our house," she wrote.

Another commenter, Jon Alcera, said he also rendered aid. His belt was used as the tourniquet.

"I know we were all there at that specific time for a good cause and to save their lives," Alcera wrote.

Klausen said she plans to contact Redondo Beach Councilman Jeff Ginsburg, whose District 1 covers the area, to campaign for a protected left-turn signal to be installed where the three streets intersect.

The crash remains under investigation, Mendence said. Redondo Beach police Sgt. Shawn Freeman told the Daily Breeze that detectives plan to shut down the intersection to recreate the incident as part of the investigation.

Witnesses are asked to call Redondo Beach Police Department Traffic Investigator William Turner at 310-379-2477, extension 2721 or email him at bill.turner@redondo.org.

—City News Service, with additional reporting by editor Nicole Mooradian.