The Situation

On September 22, 2026, a Wisconsin State Patrol trooper helping with a pursuit on Interstate 94 in Dunn County deployed spike strips on a bridge. As he moved to take cover, he fell over the bridge deck onto the street below. Responders performed life-saving measures, including CPR, before he was taken to a hospital.

The night before, Monday, September 21, at about 10 p.m., three Kingsport, Tennessee, firefighters and a Sullivan County EMS EMT were struck by a vehicle on westbound Interstate 26 while loading a patient into an ambulance.

Two states, two crashes, one problem: the injuries came from the road, not a weapon.

What Happened

Dunn County, Wisconsin (Police1, citing CBS Minnesota):

  • A trooper began pursuing a speeding driver on I-94. The driver was also wanted for fleeing another officer earlier that day.
  • A second trooper deployed spike strips on a bridge. While positioning them and trying to take cover, he fell from the bridge deck to the street below.
  • "Life-saving measures, including CPR" were performed before transport.
  • The fleeing vehicle hit the spike strip, its tires deflated, and it stopped. The driver was arrested after a high-risk traffic stop.
  • Multiple agencies are investigating. The report didn't say who gave care at the scene or describe the trooper's condition.

Kingsport, Tennessee (EMS1, citing the Bristol Herald Courier):

  • Firefighters were working a crash on westbound I-26 when a second crash happened behind it.
  • While crews were loading a patient into an ambulance, a westbound vehicle hit three firefighters and an EMT.
  • All four were taken to Johnson City Medical Center. Two were treated and released. Two were still hospitalized the next morning with injuries described as non-life-threatening.

Still unknown: the specific injuries in both incidents and what care was given before transport. We won't guess, and we're not second-guessing anyone who was doing the job.

The Tactical Medical Lesson

A lot of officer-down training starts and ends with a gunshot wound. The road doesn't care. Falls and vehicle strikes cause blunt trauma: head injuries, chest injuries, pelvic fractures, internal bleeding. A tourniquet can't control that bleeding. The medical priorities change, and so does the equipment.

Blunt trauma bleeds where you can't see it. Internal and pelvic bleeding can kill without a single visible wound. Responders who have only drilled "find the blood, put on the tourniquet" can miss it.

CPR on a highway is hard, exposed work. Compressions tie up responders in the same traffic environment that just produced the casualty.

The scene keeps producing patients. In Kingsport, one crash led to a second crash, and while crews worked that one, another vehicle hit them. Every responder who goes down pulls hands away from the original patient.

TECC/TCCC Relevance

C-TECC organizes care into Direct Threat, Indirect Threat, and Evacuation phases. Traffic is a threat too. Moving the casualty out of the travel lanes, or shielding the scene before starting work, is part of care, not a delay to it.

The military TCCC Guidelines (01 May 2026) call for a pelvic binder in "severe blunt force or blast injury" when there is pelvic pain, unconsciousness, shock, or exam findings that suggest a fracture. TCCC's CPR guidance is written for combat trauma, and it's openly pessimistic about CPR after blast or penetrating injury on the battlefield. A civilian highway fall isn't a battlefield, and local EMS protocols govern there. Don't import that line into patrol training without context.

The Joint Trauma System's Pelvic Fracture Care CPG explains why the binder matters: "More than 70% of the bleeding that occurs in the setting of pelvic fractures is from the pelvic venous plexus." It also puts pelvic binder placement among the interventions that "ideally" begin before the hospital. This is general guidance, not a statement about either incident.

What Your Agency Should Do Now

  • Build a blunt-trauma officer-down drill. Run a fall or vehicle strike, not just a gunshot wound, with CPR, airway positioning, and hypothermia prevention against a clock.
  • Put a pelvic binder somewhere it will reach the scene, such as a supervisor's vehicle or trauma bag, and train people to recognize when to use one.
  • Add terrain to roadside planning. Bridges, drop-offs, and medians change where responders can safely stand and take cover.
  • Protect the scene first. Apparatus placement and traffic control are casualty prevention. Rehearse them with fire and EMS partners.
  • Train the non-shooting officer-down radio call: location, mechanism, whether the casualty is responsive, and what's needed.

Bottom Line

A trooper fell from a bridge. Four responders were hit while loading a patient. No weapon was involved, and both scenes needed casualty care right away. If your officer-down training only covers gunshot wounds, it's missing the calls where responders also get hurt.

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