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“I could hear gurgling,” said MacDonald, which meant she was “drowning in her own blood.”

The officers put her in a position to “drain” her lungs, checked for other “puncture wounds” and applied special blood-clotting bandages.

Jessica was conscious and stayed calm at the officer’s urging.

“I knew it was going to have to be an emergency run,” said MacDonald.

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But what police didn’t know was that one of them would have to drive the ambulance because both paramedics were going to be needed — along with the two police officers working on Jessica — in the back as they rushed to hospital. Despite never driving an ambulance before, Ruiz did it like a seasoned professional.

It was all hands on deck — something that prevented this from being a homicide. This was the best of Toronto Police.

Jessica remains in serious but stable condition and is expected to recover.

“We think of her every day,” said Urbas.

Dr. Edward Hickey, of Sick Kids, offered his praise in a note he sent to lead investigator Det. Jason Hillier.

“I was the cardiovascular surgeon involved when the 13 year-old female polytrauma victim was received at Sick Kids,” said the doctor. “I don’t know the circumstances regarding how the patient was initially found by your officers. However, I do know the extent and severity of the massive bleeding that we had to deal with.”

He said that he and “several other surgeons involved in her case have remarked that a very large part of the reason that this girl has survived (and I very much hope will make a good recovery) is due to the fact that she was so well managed by the officers and paramedics who found her and then delivered her to ER still awake and alert and blood loss reduced to the minimum possible in the circumstances.”

In other words these officers are heroes — and the reason 13-year-old Jessica is still alive.

jwarmington@postmedia.com