“It is frightening”
Ambulance brings back bad memories for Bills
October 16, 2023, 10:10 a.m
Big shock at the Buffalo Bills’ NFL game against the New York Giants: After a collision, Damien Harris had to be driven off the field in an ambulance. The scene is reminiscent of another terrible incident.
A week after Damar Hamlin’s NFL comeback, a Buffalo Bills professional was driven off the field in an ambulance. 26-year-old Damien Harris was injured on his first run of the game in the second quarter when he was tackled by Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke on a 1-yard run. Attacker Harris’ head hit Okereke’s shoulder. The broadcast TV station NBC reported, citing the Bills, that Harris had suffered a neck injury. He can move his arms and legs. “He’s on the way to the hospital, that’s all I know,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said before the start of the second half.
Teammate Dion Dawkins reacted emotionally to the incident after the game: “It’s very real and Damien is our brother. He’s our friend and we know him personally. Seeing him lying there… He just found out two days ago that he will be the father of a son,” Dawkins told ESPN.
Offensive tackle Dawkins first made sure Harris was still breathing before his teammate received medical attention. “They said it was a neck injury. Imagine if he can’t hold his son anymore? That’s scary, man. It’s scary.” According to head coach Sean McDermott, “things are moving in a good direction for Damien.”
It wasn’t a cardiac arrest like Hamlin’s in January, but memories were still brought back in the stadium when numerous Bills staff members took care of the running back relatively quickly. He was lifted onto a stretcher with great care. Before he was transferred to the ambulance, Harris gave a thumbs up. The game resumed after a few minutes of interruption, with the Giants leading 6-0 at that point. In the end, the Bills won 14:9.
Hamlin played in an NFL game last weekend for the first time since his cardiac arrest in the playoffs. A collision on January 2nd against the Cincinnati Bengals caused him to go into cardiac arrest and he had to be resuscitated on the field in Ohio. In the game against the Giants, Hamlin was not in the squad and sat on the bench in civilian clothes. As Harris was being treated, TV footage showed Hamlin looking downward.