U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Sammuel Goodwin sprinted across four lanes of one of San Diego’s busiest highways one night this month, carrying two tourniquets and his medical bag.

His instant response made the difference between life and death for Melinda Gurrola, whose leg was amputated in a motorcycle crash minutes before.

Gurrola and her husband, Silverio, were riding on I-805 north on July 12 when their motorcycle went over a median between the H Street and Bonita Road exits, according to a service news release. After witnessing the crash, Goodwin, a hospital corpsman with 1st Marine Regiment, pulled over to the shoulder of the freeway and ran toward the crash.

“When I got there, I could see she had a below-the-knee amputation of her right leg, with a pool of blood under it,” Goodwin recalled. “The belt wasn’t stopping the arterial femoral bleed. She was fading fast.”

He applied a combat-application tourniquet and told bystanders to search for the severed leg using the lights on their cell phones. He then quickly wrapped the injured leg to help control the bleeding and prevent further contamination. The amputated leg was found and wrapped to preserve it for possible reattachment.

Goodwin noticed another wound on Gurrola’s left knee. He packed it with combat gauze and secured it with adhesive wrap.

“The level of risk involved was extreme,” said Kailah Rose, who witnessed the event. “There were no barriers, lighting was poor, and cars were not slowing down. I genuinely feared for his life. Yet, with total disregard for his own safety, he pressed forward with the full intent to save another. I watched in awe as he knelt beside the injured motorcyclist and immediately began performing life-saving medical interventions amidst oncoming traffic.”

When emergency medical services arrived 22 minutes later, Goodwin helped paramedics roll Gurrola over and check her back for other injuries. He then assisted them getting her into the ambulance. Gurrola was treated at the Hillcrest Medical Center at University of California San Diego Health Hospital.

One of the attending trauma surgeons told hospital staff that Goodwin’s wound packing was one of the best he’d seen.

“It all goes to God, my loved ones and the cCorpsmen who served with me and before me,” Goodwin, from Queens, N.Y., said. “They motivate me daily to always be there for those that are in need. By God’s grace I was there with my gear on time and did not get killed in the process. If I would have driven 12 seconds faster or slower. I would have missed the accident completely.