Mother says Gulfport cop saved their lives in car wreck

A Gulfport police officer suffering from serious injuries from a car crash is being called a hero. A mother says if it weren’t for the actions of Officer Luis Garcia, her boyfriend and their one-year-old little girl may not have woken up alive.
“I was crying because you could just hear the cop screaming in pain and I didn’t even know if he was alive or not.” Gulfport mother Courtney Brown saw her life flash before her eyes as she and her boyfriend watched an incoming van smash into a Gulfport patrol car Monday night, a collision that she says could have killed both of them and their one-year-old daughter Emberlynn.
Ten-year Gulfport Police Officer Luis Garcia was the patrolman inside the car. “He saved my daughter and my boyfriend’s lives so it was really emotional.”
The driver of the van, 18-year-old Gulfport resident Eli Bosworth, is facing multiple charges. Authorities say Bosworth stole the van, initiating a police chase that ended at the intersection of Creosote and Three Rivers Road in Gulfport, where Brown watched the van collide with Garcia’s car. “One of the police officers went ahead through the red light and the other one, as soon as it turned green, he just stopped in the intersection. All of a sudden, this van going about 70, 85 miles per hour just smashed into him.”
Authorities say the wreck happened around 6:30 p.m. Officer Garcia is in stable condition, but the injuries he suffered from the crash are serious. “If we would have went through that green light, it would have been us,” said Brown. “It would have been the people behind us. They possibly could have died.”
Brown’s Facebook post about the crash has received over 2,500 shares. She says what Officer Garcia did has changed her perspective on police. “They put their lives on the line every day for people like me and her. He’s a hero, a real life hero. It’s just the bravest, most selfless act I’ve ever seen in a really long time.”