ASU Marine midshipman saves teenage boy's life

An Arizona State University student who rescued a 15-year-old boy pinned beneath a car in a horrific accident is credited with saving the teenager’s life, according to a recent story on CBS 5 News in Phoenix.

Midshipman Jon Smith, an ASU junior majoring in religious studies, used his belt to apply a tourniquet to the boy’s leg after the teen was pinned against a light pole by a car. According to the report, Michael Placencia was walking to the corner store to buy some batteries when a nearby car crash sent one of the vehicles flying toward him, wedging his leg between the car and the light pole. Smith heard the crash outside the place where he works and sprang into action to stop the boy’s bleeding.

"I've never seen a 15-year-old as tough as you were,” Smith told Placencia in the hospital. “You didn't cry once. You didn't even ask for your mom, which I figured, that's what I would do. I'm a little momma's boy.”

According to the story, everyone who was involved in treating Placencia, from first responders to surgeons at the hospital, agreed that the boy would have died if not for the quick-thinking of Smith. Smith is a U.S. Marine Option Navy ROTC midshipman on ASU’s Tempe campus.

"When you have an injury like that in the field, timing is everything," said Tony Rhore, an orthopedic trauma surgeon who operated on Placencia. "Jon made a huge difference."

Surgery was unable to save the boy’s leg, however, which had to be amputated. But Rhonda Placencia cared only that her son was alive: "You saved our son's life,” she told Smith. “If it wasn't for you, he wouldn't be here.”

As a gesture of thanks, the Placencia family nominated Smith for CBS 5 News’ Pay It Forward and presented the ASU student with a check for $500. Smith, who will ship out to Marine Officer Candidates School in July, is donating the money to a veterans charity.

"I don't really see what I did as some grand thing," he said. "I just did what I had to do."