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After rushing in to help a bleeding motorcyclist last fall, a Miller Place lifeguard and Iona University freshman was named Citizen of the Year on Tuesday by the New Rochelle Police Department.
Sofia Wyllie, a freshman in Iona’s Class of 2028, received the honor during the police force’s annual awards and memorial ceremony at the Greentree Country Club.
Wyllie was walking to dance class along North Avenue when a motorcycle was struck by a van and the rider was catapulted from the bike and landed on the pavement. Wyllie immediately ran toward the scene.
“I just locked in,” Wyllie said in an Iona University report. “He was going to bleed out. I had to do something.”
The Long Islander quickly recognized signs of arterial bleeding from the man’s leg. Thinking fast, she removed her sweatpants — she had shorts on underneath — and twisted the fabric into a makeshift tourniquet, tying it tightly above the injury to slow the bleeding.
‘An instrument in God’s plan’
Wyllie stayed with the crash victim until paramedics arrived, working to keep him conscious and calm. Later, she turned her focus to the driver of the van, who appeared shaken, and helped console him until first responders took over.
When the ambulance pulled away, Wyllie said she prayed quietly on the sidewalk. Then she called her dad and walked back across the accident scene to get to class.
“I don’t feel like a hero,” she said. “I was just an instrument in God’s plan. God had me walk into the accident because He knew I could help.”
Top photo: Instagram/New Rochelle Police Department and Iona University.
