South Jersey officer turns life threatening crash into life saving moment | Heroes on the Frontlines

FRANKLIN TWP., New Jersey (WPVI) -- When life was on the line, a Franklin Township police officer on his way to work put the brakes on tragedy with a timely tourniquet.

A trip home from the shore took a gruesome turn for James McPhereson.

"I guess he didn't see me, he turned and hesitated and went anyway," he recalled. "I landed in the middle of the grass, and that's when I started freaking out, seeing a bone sticking out of my leg," he said.

He knew he needed a tourniquet.

About to clock in for his shift, Franklin Township Police Officer Thomas Rambone turned on his radio, heard the calls for help and went straight to the scene.

"I could see that he was bleeding profusely from his left leg," said Officer Rambone. "I went back to my vehicle and grabbed a tourniquet."

"I remember Rambone came up and said, 'This is going to be tight, but I'm going to save your life.' And I said, 'Do whatever you got to do,'" added McPhereson.

In that moment, Rambone remembered the tourniquet training he just received a week earlier.

"I knew it was a life-saving measure to get that tourniquet on him as soon as possible," he said.

While Officer Rambone stopped the bleeding, medics and an air evac chopper arrived to take McPhereson to a trauma center. He spent two weeks in the hospital and had his left leg amputated.

McPhereson now uses a prosthetic leg.

The pair are now bonded thanks to that life-saving moment.

"The hospital thinks if he wasn't there in time, I probably wouldn't be here," said McPhereson.

"It's like another brotherhood. If he needs to reach out to me at 3 a.m., he can reach out to me. I feel I can do something. We went through something. I'm truly blessed," said Rambone. "It's humbling."