Miami-Dade firefighters honored a Cuban on the street last Friday who saved the life of a woman who was hit by a drunk driver.
The incident occurred in November last year, when the cameras of passersby on Calle Ocho in the city captured the moment in which the Cuban, identified as Jorge Rodríguez, helped Alva Alonso, who had been run over.
In accordance with Local 10 News MiamiRodríguez, who lived in his car, covered the woman with a blanket that was taken out of her trunk, and she was immobilized between two cars after being run over.
Rodríguez made sure that the drunk driver remained at the scene and handed over his shirt, with which he made a tourniquet with which he stopped the bleeding in the woman’s leg.
This maneuver by Rodríguez allowed Alonso to survive and be able to receive help from Miami-Dade paramedics.
This Friday, Alonso saw for the first time the man who saved his life in a ceremony in which the Miami-Dade firefighters team and the paramedics who attended the scene were present.
The Cuban was awarded a medal and a department coin for his actions that night.
“It is something very moving for me to see this,” said Rodríguez.
“Jorge saved my life even without knowing me,” Alonso said about what happened that night.
Although the woman lost her leg as a result of the accident, paramedics indicated that if a tourniquet had not been applied, the consequences could have been much worse.
Alonso explained that her life has undergone a radical change after losing her leg, “I had to change how to be a wife, how to be a mother, how to be an employee. By the reckless decision of another person ”.
Rodríguez said he was relieved to see Alonso walking with the help of a prosthesis and to be fine despite what happened that night.
“Now I feel good, I really feel good because I see that she can walk and is here.”
Rodríguez explained to the local media that he has 26 years of experience as a lifeguard and has first aid knowledge after beginning his training in Cuba and continued practicing after arriving in Miami-Dade in the 90s.
The woman assures that Rodríguez was her guardian angel that night, because she knows that if it had not been for him, she would not have survived.