ATLANTA — A MARTA officer was commended by the department this week for giving first aid - including applying a tourniquet to an arm injury and doing chest compressions - to an aggravated assault suspect.
Officer K. Softley discovered the injury to the man, identified as Martell Ivy, after another man had flagged the officer down and said Ivy was chasing him with a knife.
According to a police report, Softley drew his gun - the police report noting he kept his finger off the trigger - and told Ivy to drop the knife and get on the ground. When Ivy did so, Softley saw the injury to his arm, described in a police report as "bleeding profusely" and which appeared serious in body cam video.
"He also noticed that Ivy appeared to be having medical complications and was losing consciousness," the report states.
It was not clear how Ivy's arm was injured. The somewhat graphic body cam video showed Softley applying the tourniquet and then doing chest compressions to keep Ivy from losing consciousness.
The incident originally happened in early September in Decatur, and is now being handled by the Decatur Police Department.
Officer Softley is no stranger to stepping in to help.
Back in 2018, 11Alive reported how he and fellow MARTA officers worked to save two people who suffered heart attacks - hours apart from each other - at the same MARTA station.
The officers used a defibrillator and CPR to help one of the men.
Softley was later honored with the Red Cross award for his quick thinking. He was also named officer of the year by MARTA police last year.
