Jon-Jon Pietersen, the passer-by who saved the life of a cyclist who was shot twice near Krugersdorp last weekend, has had an “extremely overwhelming week” since the incident, he told In the Bunch.
Last weekend Pietersen, from Johannesburg, came across a harrowing scene on his way to look for new hiking spots and to show his friend a white-tiger enclosure.
He found the 50-year-old cyclist lying on the ground and fighting for his life. He discovered he had been shot twice from behind in a robbery.
Jon-Jon Pietersen (front left) and medical staff pictured carrying the shot cyclist on a stretcher towards the helicopter from which the man was airlifted. Photo: facebook.com/jonjon.pietersen
The cyclist was shot once in his hamstring area and once in his lower back near his kidneys, Pietersen said. In both cases the bullets had gone right through his body, exiting out the front.
“As I got to the first speed bump [on Kromdraai Road], I heard someone shout ‘help me!’.
“I was in the passenger seat and I told my friend to stop. We first thought it may have been a trap, but as I got out and saw a guy lying on the ground bleeding with his shoes gone I knew it was serious.”
His first and only objective was to stop the bleeding, Pietersen said. “I put my foot on his leg to stop the bleeding and I asked for a first-aid kit, but there was none.
“Then fortunately somebody else pulled up behind us and out of the blue two gloves appeared. I put the right glove on to put pressure on the back of his leg. The other glove broke.”
Somebody then handed over a towel, which Pietersen said he used to wrap around the man’s leg, before applying pressure on the leg with his knee.
“I used my fingers in my right glove to hold down on the wound in his back.
“I then moved him to the recovery position and then I noticed he had another hole in his stomach [the exit wound].
“That’s when we had a bit of a problem – there were three holes and I only had two hands.”
He could not hold the stomach wound down without gloves on his left hand so he asked the cyclist himself to do it. Then box tape arrived on the scene, which he used for the front stomach hole.
“I took the glove that broke, rolled it into a little ball and stuffed it into the stomach wound. I rolled the tape out and wrapped it over the stuffed glove.
“I was then able to hold pressure on his back and stomach and I asked someone else to keep pressure on his leg.”
A few minutes followed and more people began stopping at the scene, providing more medical supplies each time.
He used a bandage and gauze to help stop the bleeding and he used Dettol to help disinfect the wounds.
Another set of gloves was then presented to him, which he used to attend to the stomach wound again. Paramedics arrived at the scene 20 minutes later, before the cyclist was airlifted to hospital.
“The bullets luckily missed any vital organs,” Pietersen said. “He was able to leave hospital on Wednesday, which is when I visited him at his house for coffee.
“He’s doing okay and he is very grateful. It was a very emotional meeting and we could become friends for life if I’m being honest.”
Pietersen said he has been overwhelmed by all the hype surrounding the incident since it occurred.
“Having a guy’s life in my hands was quite a big deal,” he said. “It’s been an extremely overwhelming week, both emotionally and physically.
“It was like 15 minutes of fame on steroids, but I’m extremely grateful for everyone’s messages and concerns and I’m grateful for all the media coverage.”
He added that he did not want the publicity around the incident for “self-fame”, but rather to create more awareness of the reality society faces.
“Something like this can happen to anybody,” he said. “People in general should really consider taking basic first-aid training.
“When cycling or hiking try to do so in groups. It is so important to just be aware of your surroundings and take the proper precautions.”
