Sierra Vista, AZ : A hit-and-run crash involving a pickup and a motorcycle on Tuesday, October, 31st 2017

A hit-and-run crash involving a pickup and a motorcycle Tuesday on State Route 82 left a 29-year-old Elgin man with an amputated leg.

At around noon on Oct. 31, a pickup truck turned from a side road onto SR 82 at Milepost 49, just across the county line near Whetstone, said Bart Graves, a spokesman with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The driver struck a motorcyclist, then fled east.

The motorcyclist was found at the scene with his left leg completely severed below the knee.

An off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent from the Sonoita Station found the man on the ground and saved his life by applying a tourniquet to his leg to stop arterial bleeding, the agency’s Tucson Sector said in a news release.

Several civilians assisted the motorcycles, according to Bart Graves, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.

After being stabilized by first responders, the victim was evacuated by helicopter to Banner University Medical Center in Tucson.

The Border Patrol said the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District responded to the scene, and Graves said the Whetstone Fire Department was on site to help care for the victim.

DPS eventually tracked the driver of the pickup, Clarence Wall, to his home in Huachuca City, Graves said. Wall, 71, was arrested and booked into the Cochise County jail for failure to stop at the scene of a serious injury collision and aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument.

Alcohol has not been ruled out as contributing to the crash, Graves said.

Jiggs Rawls, Tucson Sector chief, praised the response of the off-duty Border Patrol agent, saying: “The actions of our agents are a reflection of their selfless character on and off duty. It demonstrates our commitment to preserving life in all aspect of law enforcement as well as the importance of our continued emergency response training.”

Source :
Motorcyclist loses leg in hit-and-run crash