ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Sons of the American Revolution recently recognized Deputy Myrna Juarez for her actions to aid a critically injured motorist. On March 5, John Blair of the George Washington Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution presented Deputy Juarez with an award from the Virginia State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution for her efforts and response, while off duty, to a crash on I-95.
Sheriff Dana Lawhorne joined Mr. Blair, who serves as the Public Safety Awards Chair for the local chapter, as he presented Deputy Juarez with the award at a Sheriff’s Office staff meeting. Several of Deputy Juarez’s colleagues and commanders were also present and congratulated her on her recognition.
The Car Crash
Deputy Juarez was driving to work in 2017 when she witnessed a motor vehicle crash along I-95 near Woodbridge. She saw a car overturn and then saw a person on the road. She immediately pulled into the emergency lane and ran to the crash scene.
No other first responders were present and she could see that the victim, a man who had been ejected from the car, had a bad head injury and another passenger from the same vehicle was trying to help him. Deputy Juarez called 911 and then directed the passenger to keep pressure on the victim’s head wound until medics arrived. She instructed two other passengers to try to keep traffic moving so that police and medics would not be delayed in reaching the crash scene.
She checked again on the victim, grabbing his hand and telling him to squeeze hers. The victim was unresponsive and when Virginia State Police arrived, Deputy Juarez informed the trooper that the victim was not alert. The trooper gave Deputy Juarez gloves, and she also applied pressure to the victim’s head injury. Once EMS arrived on the scene, medics took over treatment and had the victim airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital. Despite the efforts of physicians, medics, Deputy Juarez and a passenger, the victim did not survive.
Even though she was off-duty, Deputy Juarez never hesitated to take action and did her best to help a critically-injured crash victim.
