'This Is Someone's Son': Samaritan Recounts Motorcyclist Rescue

TOMS RIVER, NJ — When he was studying to get his captain’s license, Joey Drago underwent first aid training for medical emergencies, because if someone suffers a serious injury miles offshore, the first response is critical.

In his eight years as a captain, he’s never had to put that training to use on the boat. On Wednesday, however, his training was put to the test when a motorcyclist’s leg was severed during a crash on Route 70.

Drago, 34, and his brother Chris, 31, were sitting at the traffic signal on Whitesville Road in Toms River when they witnessed the crash that injured John Troncone, 25, of Jackson.

The brothers and Miguel Otero, 48, of Brick rushed to help Troncone in the first moments after the crash, stopping the bleeding and keeping Troncone conscious until EMTs and police arrived.

“I have kids, and younger brothers,” Drago said Thursday. “All I could think about is he’s someone’s son. Imagine Father’s Day without your son.”

“He’s still alive, that’s what matters,” he said.

Drago, who lives in Millstone, and Chris, who lives in the Beach Haven West section of Manahawkin, were headed through the area on the way to pick up a recreational vehicle that Joey Drago had bought.

“We were spur of the moment going to pick up my RV at Camping World,” Drago said. The brothers own D&S Tree Service, and had carved out time between appointments to get the vehicle. He was on the phone with a friend when he saw Troncone hit and thrown from the motorcycle.

“We were out of the truck immediately,” he said. While Chris called 911 and gave police the GPS location of where they were, Joey ran to Troncone, pulled off his belt, wrapped it around Troncone’s leg and pulled tight.

Troncone had landed on the guy wire supporting a utility pole. It cut through his leg just above the knee.

As Drago pulled tight on the belt — “It was my favorite belt,” he said — Otero came over to help, pulling off his shirt and using it to protect the wound.

“He was a rock star,” Drago said. While he continued to pull tight on the belt to stop the bleeding, Otero kept talking to Troncone to keep him conscious.

“We knew we had to keep him from going into shock,” Drago said.

He kept holding onto the belt even as police and EMTs arrived.

“If I had let go, he would have bled out,” Drago said. It takes just minutes for a person to die from blood loss from a major artery.

Under normal circumstances, “I have the weakest stomach,” he said. But his instincts to help took over.

“It was like it was my little brother,” Drago said.

He said Otero’s efforts at keeping Troncone conscious while also blocking him from seeing the severity of his injury were just as important.

“We were a well-oiled machine,” he said, even though the two men had never met.

On Thursday, he learned from one of the officers that Troncone, who was flown to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, had survived surgery.

“The kid’s still alive,” he said. “That’s what matters most. We were there for a reason and you just react.”

Read more: Motorcyclist Loses Leg In Route 70 Crash In Toms River

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