'It Was Chaos': Man Saves Girl's Life After Car Crashes Into Salem, NH Home
SALEM, NH (CBS) – Scott Demers says he didn't have time to panic when a car came barreling through a Salem, New Hampshire home with kids inside.
"It was like a war zone," Demers said. "It was chaos, everywhere."
Demers has no professional medical experience, but when he saw a five-year-old girl severely injured, bleeding and in desperate need of help – he jumped in. He was fixing the sprinklers a couple doors down when he heard the impact.
"The father came out of the house screaming that he just killed my little girl. I saw the blood squirting out of her neck, so I knew she was still with us," Demers said.
It wasn't the car that hit five-year-old Giuliana. Investigators say the driver, 37-year old Scott Dowd, had been drinking and was going so fast he took out a neighbor's mailbox post, catapulting it through the house.
Demers took his shirt off and applied pressure to the girl's neck. "When the doctor came over, he asked me, let me see the neck. I said no way. It's squirting. He said don't move your hand at all," Demers said.
It was a move that likely saved Giuliana's life before she was medflighted to Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
Her father, Joseph Tutrone, credited those who answered his cries for help. "Really, they were the ones that saved her life, because I was in a complete panic," Tutrone said. "I didn't know what to do."
The five-year old has a broken jaw and several facial cuts but is expected to make a full recovery thanks to an unlikely hero.
"I don't have the most inviting appearance sometimes," Demers said. "Heroes don't always wear capes, I guess."
Giuliana was released from the hospital on Tuesday. Her family said she is doing better every day, but has a long road to recovery.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with Giuliana's medical bills.