TUCSON – Arizona Department of Public Safety Trooper Brandon Jacquez is being hailed a hero after he saved an elderly man from a raging bull attack in late January.
According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) Trooper Jacquez received a report Jan. 3 about a man being trampled and gored by a bull in Benson when he was driving home after completing his shift for the day.
As the closest officer in area, Jacquez responded to the incident and saw the man being trampled and gored by the bull. The man was on the ground, severely injured and not moving.
DPS advises that despite persistent efforts, the man’s neighbors had been unable to stop the animal.
From DPS:
Working together, Trooper Jacquez and one of the neighbors quickly formed a plan to draw the bull’s attention away from the man. When the bull finally moved slightly farther away from the victim, the trooper used lethal force on the animal to prevent further attacks.
Trooper Jacquez and neighbors rendered aid to the victim until medics arrived and airlifted him to a hospital. Despite suffering life-threatening injuries, a neighbor says the victim is “amazingly tough and determined to recover.” She also credits Trooper Jacquez with helping prevent further injury to the victim, as well as her husband, who had initially tried to stop the attack himself.
“Trooper Jacquez put his life on the line to help both the victim and my husband,” she said. “If he had not been there…I fear the outcome might have been very different. In my mind he is a hero for being instrumental in preventing what could have been an unthinkable tragedy.”