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DPS trooper speaks about saving man who was gored, trampled from bull in Benson

"In my mind he is a hero for being instrumental in preventing what could have been an unthinkable tragedy."
Credit: (DPS, Arizona)
Trooper Brandon Jacquez was driving home last month when he heard a call of a bull attack.

BENSON, Ariz. — An Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper is being dubbed a hero after he reportedly saved an elderly man from a bull attack in January.

According to DPS, Trooper Brandon Jacquez received a report Jan. 3 about a man being trampled and gored by a bull in Benson when he was driving home after completing his shift for the day. As the closest officer in area, Jacquez responded to the incident and found the man on the ground.

On Friday, Trooper Jacquez told media during an interview that when he arrived at the scene, he found the older man getting trampled by about a 1,500 pound black bull that was very aggressive.

"Once I got out of my vehicle and we ran through a few gates to the pasture that it was in where the incident was occurring, he told me he tried to get him off of him and couldn't do it," said Trooper Jacquez. "I could see him physically using his head to basically pound the victim into the ground causing serious injury to the victim."

RELATED: 'He is a hero': Off-duty trooper praised for rescuing Benson man brutally attacked by bull

The trooper and a neighbor quickly drew the bull from the man, and when the animal was at a safe distance from the victim, Jacquez used lethal force against the bull.

The man, who reportedly sustained severe injuries in the incident, was then airlifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Trooper Jacquez said that he checked in with a neighbor to see how the man was doing. He said they told him the man has multiple broken ribs, a fractured shoulder, pelvic bone and hip.

“Trooper Jacquez put his life on the line to help both the victim and my husband (the neighbor who helped the trooper),” a witness said. “If he had not been there … I fear the outcome might have been very different. In my mind he is a hero for being instrumental in preventing what could have been an unthinkable tragedy.”

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