ADOT worker aids flood rescue: 'That kid needed to get to the hospital ASAP'

Flooding was inundating the washes, roads and businesses of Globe, and ADOT employees were rushing to help the community east of Phoenix in a moment of crisis.

As multiple crews cleared hazardous debris the evening of Friday, Sept. 26, one of those ADOT responders came upon an urgent problem: An ambulance was unable to cross a flooded roadway to reach a teenage boy who was bleeding so badly that a tourniquet had been applied to his arm.

This news account reported how the teen ultimately got to a Phoenix hospital for treatment, due in part to help from an ADOT employee who wasn’t identified. Today, we’re sharing more about that employee and his role in the rescue. 

He is Karl Lopez, a lead maintenance technician based in Superior, and this is his story of towing a stranded pickup out of a flooded street so he could then help the ambulance cross those same waters to rescue the teen.

Lopez was en route to a call outside of Globe for flooding when he was forced to stop his ADOT emergency response truck due to 2-3 feet of floodwater rushing across Jesse Hayes Road. An ambulance was also stopped there, its driver telling Lopez how urgent it was to reach an injured teen who was in the back of a pickup on the other side of the flooded road.

“They said that kid needed to get to the hospital ASAP,” Lopez said.

The floodwater wasn’t the only problem. A pickup truck had stalled in the water and was blocking any attempt to cross. You can see that in this video provided by Lopez. 

Lopez decided to move the stranded pickup, figuring his emergency response truck was heavy enough to stay put in the floodwater and protect him from its force so he could attach a chain to the other vehicle. Lopez successfully towed the truck from the road, but the floodwaters were too deep for the ambulance to risk crossing just yet.

After about 15 minutes, the water had receded a bit and the ambulance driver was ready. Lopez decided to follow the ambulance in case it ran into trouble and needed a push through the waters.

The ambulance got through the water on its own. Lopez helped load the teen into the ambulance, which rushed the boy to a Phoenix hospital.

Lopez said while the flooding was the worst he’d seen in his 8.5 years working for ADOT in the area, his focus was on figuring how to overcome the floodwaters to help the teen.

“I just thought I needed to get that truck out of there so that ambulance could get through,” Lopez said. “That’s all I was thinking. I just acted on it.”