Man Injured By His Pig Survives Thanks To Deputy's Quick Response

A Mayes County man who was injured by one of his pigs is lucky to be alive thanks to the quick thinking of a Mayes County Deputy. 

The deputy was worried the man had an arterial bleed, so he used a tourniquet and called in a helicopter to take the man to a hospital.

The owners of the pig, Kevin Russell and his wife, say this was just a freak accident. They’ve owned the pig for three years and never had any issues, but the pig was injured, and they were trying to help it when its tusk sliced Russell's leg. Two neighbor kids were there when it happened; one called 911, and the other ran for help. 

Russell is out of the hospital and recovering now and is thankful for those who helped save his life. 

Deputy Brayden Penderson was about 20 minutes away when he heard the 911 call about an injured man who was bleeding non-stop. When Penderson and firefighters got to the scene, the neighbor was using a t-shirt to try to stop the bleeding. 

“Under the patient's leg, there was a pretty large pool of blood, and they were holding pressure on the t-shirt, and I realized under the t-shirt it was still dripping blood, indicating the pressure wasn’t doing its job, and it could be an arterial bleed,” said Penderson.  

Penderson has only been a deputy for four months, but before that, he worked on an ambulance with the fire department, so he knew what to do and quickly put a tourniquet on Russell’s leg.

“Having the medical training and being put in a rural area, we often beat EMS and sometimes fire departments to the scene, and you never know what to expect. Just prepare for the worst,” said Penderson. 

Penderson gives a lot of credit to two teenagers for jumping into action. Tatum and Noah Mazutis live across the street and were helping feed Russell’s animals when he got cut.

“We thought maybe he like hit him with his head or something. Then, when he was laying on the ground, you could see the blood. I was kind of freaking out. I was scared,” said Noah Mazutis.

Noah ran to get help, and Tatum called 911. 

Sheriff Mike Reed says being a deputy is about more than taking bad guys to jail; it’s about helping people. 

“We just went through a lot of stuff with active shooters and stop the bleed. This is something that they are all trained in, every one of them. Whatever pops up, is what we deal with,” said Reed.