Officer Clinton Weil and some fellow Arlington officers were getting coffee at a gas station near Cowboys Stadium around 1:15 a.m. Aug. 1 when they heard a car crash. A Chevy Tahoe squealed its tires as it sped away from the accident east on Division Street. When Weil caught up with the fleeing driver, he had already been handcuffed and was sitting by his vehicle, drenched in blood.
Weil ran to another officer’s patrol car looking for something to slow the blood and found a yellow ShamWow cloth. He said he propped the man up against his leg and held the cloth tightly to the wound for several minutes until paramedics arrived.
The injured man, Julio Garnica, 27, of Arlington, was taken by ambulance to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Arlington police arrested Garnica after he was released from the hospital and charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for striking the man in the parking lot.
Weil, who said Garnica thanked him, received the Arlington Police Department’s lifesaving award this month for his action and said he was surprised by the recognition from his department.
Thank you and congratulations to this officer who went above and beyond the call of duty to save a life even though he was a suspect in a hit and run accident.
Hit and run accidents are an outrageous and punishable offense! Defendant drivers are often never found and this is why it is more important than ever to maintain UM/UIM insurance on your policy. For more information about UM/UIM insurance please see my previous blog (click here). If you are injured in a hit and run accident and have UM/UIM insurance please contact my office so I can get you the money you deserve!