Police Officer Was Assisting Man Changing Blown-Out Tire When Things Took a Sudden Turn: ‘This Is a First for Me’

A California Highway Patrol officer faced one of the "craziest" cases of his career recently while assisting a man who was changing a blown-out tire.

While patrolling Interstate 580, officer Dan Garza encountered Didrick Johnck who was changing a tire, KMAX-TV reported. The southern California man asked Garza to stick around to give him some light.

He agreed — and that's when things took a strange turn.

“He came back to my patrol car and said, ‘Hey officer, I’m sorry this is taking so long, but there’s ants over here they’re crawling up my leg,’” Garza told KMAX.

Things then got potentially deadly.

“I saw him on the ground reaching out toward my patrol car,” Garza said.

Image source: KMAX-TV

Didrick was crawling to his patrol car.

“And I could see his eyes were glossed over and red, and at that moment I knew something wasn’t right,” he said.

Garza moved quickly, grabbing his first-aid kit and an oxygen mask. The motorist had fallen into anaphylactic shock after being bitten approximately 100 times by fire ants.

Weeks later, Garza received a phone call, thanking him for saving his life following the ant attack.

“He was thanking me for being there and saving his life, and said if I hadn’t been there, he probably would’ve died,” he said.

Garca will be honored for his life-saving actions, KMAX reported.

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