Gary cadet lauded for lifesaving effort

The victim of a stabbing at San Marcos’ annual Christmas festival is expected to recover, and a big part of the credit for that goes to Gary Job Corps Corrections Cadet Michael Lewis.

Lewis, one of 14 Gary Corrections students working at the Sights & Sounds of Christmas celebration on Dec. 5, was staffing a ticket booth when the victim, who had been stabbed in the neck, staggered up bleeding heavily.

Lewis “notified his supervisor” and “either used the patient’s shirt and/or coached the patient to use his shirt to apply direct pressure to the open wound,” Gary Job Corps Center Director Patty Langford said in a letter asking city and county officials to honor the student with a proclamation.

The victim was “going in and out of consciousness,” Gary Business Liaison Randolph Goodman said. “Michael kept him awake until EMS arrived. Michael was later told that by keeping him conscious it kept the victim from going into shock.” Goodman said Lewis credited the first aid training he’d received at Gary for his quick action.

Both the city of San Marcos and Hays County are expected to issue proclamations.

“We are very proud of the action from Cadet Michael Lewis,” Lankford said. “It is a testament to the level of training given to our students.”

The day after the attack, police arrested Ismael Jose Facundo, 20, of Martindale. He remains behind bars for the second degree felony offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon under a bond of $50,000 set by Justice of the Peace Maggie Moreno.