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Tow truck driver helped save good samaritan after I-264 accident

Posted at 1:27 PM, May 02, 2013
and last updated 2013-05-03 06:16:51-04

Dennis Underwood, a tow truck driver and former firefighter, stopped to help after witnessing a horrible accident on I-264 Tuesday afternoon.

A good Samaritan, Chip Hilborn, stopped to help a woman on the road when a pickup truck lost control and hit both Chip and the woman, costing Chip his leg.

Underwood quickly pulled over and used his belt as a tourniquet for Chip.

"When I saw everything that happened, I knew this was going to be something I would never forget," says Dennis Underwood. " When I first came up to him, he was yelling 'where's my leg,' and he had a good color at the time, but I know he was losing a lot of blood."

Good samaritan loses leg in I-264 accident

Chip, a volunteer Angel Flight pilot, saw a woman who was stuck in the median, and he stopped to help her. Then traffic started slowing, and a pick-up truck lost control slamming into both of them.

That's when Dennis says his firefighter instincts kicked in; he took action by running over and wrapping his belt around what was left of chip's leg.

"Just that day I decided to wear the shorts I was wearing, and I knew I had to wear a belt that day because the shorts would fall off because I lost so much weight. So I was like, well, I'll wear these today.. And then, things happened where I had to have my belt.“

Less than two minutes later, Dennis says EMTs were there,  But chip's family told NewsChannel 3 that without Dennis, Chip wouldn't have made it.

“Everybody's put on this earth for something, and occasionally I like to think good things come out of it,” says Underwood.

NewsChannel 3 has been talking to chip's daughter, and says all they want to do is thank Dennis.