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| HATTIESBURG, Miss.—— Sgt. 1st Class Corey Engard poses next to Mississippi-native Colton Rogers on-scene of the highway accident after Engard tied proper a torniquet to Rogers’ injury. (Photo Credit - Sgt. 1st Class Corey Engard) |
HATTIESBURG , MS, UNITED STATES
12.18.2023
Story by Jonathan Holloway
U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion - Baton Rouge
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — — Recently, where fatality was certain, U.S. Army Recruiter Sgt. 1st Class Corey Engard saved the life, and changed destiny, of a local Hattiesburg man after witnessing a vehicle flipped and mangled on a highway guardrail.
“I was dangling from the seatbelt with all my body weight held up by the seatbelt, trying to reach for my pocketknife to cut myself loose,” Rogers said.
Engard pulled Rogers, the trapped 22-year-old, Stone High School graduate from twisted metal that was once a functional vehicle.
Still in shock, Engard quickly noticed large metal shards had severed Rogers’ left leg from the knee down.
“I was headed to a farewell luncheon and awards ceremony for our recruiting company when I saw the accident,” Engard said. “He was clearly in shock and unaware of what was happening, no aid was on-scene, and I knew I needed to act fast.”
Blood and panic poured onto the scene of the accident according to Engard, but he remained calm relying on his Combat Life Saver Training, given to Army Soldiers throughout their career starting in Advanced Individual Training.
“When I saw him [Engard], I knew I had a chance to stay alive, I was bleeding out pretty bad, but I wasn’t going to give up,” Rogers said. “All I could hear other people saying were ‘Oh my God, how are we going to get him out?’”
Short of proper resources, Engard instinctively, and with genius, used his belt as a torniquet to stop massive blood loss ensuing from Rogers’ injury.
“Once I managed to pull him from the vehicle, the screaming and panicking really started to set in…he was in pain and scared,” Engard said. “I immediately went into ‘Soldier mode’ talking him through the situation, treating his injury and telling him to put his mind in another place but don’t fall asleep because he in shock.”
While applying the improvised torniquet, Engard simultaneously contacted 9-1-1 himself.
“I was shocked to realize that no bystander near the accident had attempted to contact emergency services,” Engard said.
Engard asked on-site bystanders for an apparatus to tighten the belt (as a torniquet) and firmly secured Rogers’ blood loss.
“I let him [Rogers] know I would need to use the apparatus to tighten the belt,” Engard said. “I told him ‘I am going to turn this three times and it’s going to hurt’ …and it did.”
Engard maintained phone contact and gave directions to paramedics until they arrived, but his job still was incomplete; paramedics also arrived in slight dismay after witnessing the traumatic scene.
“The paramedics arrived and saw his [Rogers] injury and seemed to be just as stunned…threw me a pair of scissors and asked that I cut off his jeans,” Engard said.
Engard seemed to take full control of the scene of the accident, applying a proper torniquets supplied by paramedics, even demanding they immediately drive Rogers to the hospital instead of helicopter transport as paramedics originally planned.
“I asked how long the helicopter transport would take to arrive and was told 40 minutes,” Engard said. “I knew that wasn’t enough time and urged them, really insisting, they drive him to the hospital right in that moment.”
Engard’s leadership skills and brave action made the difference between life and death.
“He took charge, did everything right …he saved my life, and I couldn’t be more thankful,” Rogers said. “He was the one calm through the whole situation, he took care of me.”
Safely, Rogers was successfully transported to Anderson Regional Medical Center’s Critical Care Unit (CCU) in Meridian, Mississippi.
Rogers lost four pints of blood and was subject to life support for three days.
Rogers is overjoyed and expresses the utmost thanks for Engard’s compassion and fast acting skills as an Army Soldier, but Rogers’ mother, ¬Kisha Beach, has her own reasons for praises to Engard.
“I spoke with Engard on the phone and had to fight back my words because everything in me screamed ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’,” Beach said. “I saw the photos of others just standing, staring, on their phone taking photos, but not him…many of God’s people were there but he [Engard] let God’s-work flow through him and saved the life of my only son.”
According to Engard, he is honored to have served the Hattiesburg community, where he recruits, in a more meaningful and fulfilling way.
“Meeting him outside of the accident was nice, he is a respectful man; if he wasn’t there, I would have died,” Rogers said.
Currently, Rogers is experiencing a speedy recovery and reaching a point of normalcy post-accident.
“I am in good spirits and recovery has been a piece of cake,” Rogers said. “I was released a week early from physical rehabilitation because I could perform ahead of schedule.”
Rogers, his mother and Engard are planning a holiday dinner marking the beginning of a lifelong friendship that started with an Army Soldier, using his training, and saving the life of a young man who deserved to live.
