Off-duty firefighter who aided stabbing victim speaks

DEBARY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A firefighter who risked her life to try and save a woman who was stabbed outside a Lake Mary restaurant last month spoke with FOX 35 about her harrowing experience and her recovery. 

Caroline Dorton was off-duty and eating at a Chili's with her fiancé on April 17, when a man stabbed his estranged wife in the parking lot.   Dorton ran out to help the woman, but she was run over by the husband, investigators say.   The woman Dorton was attempting to save eventually died at the hospital. 

Dorton suffered severe injuries in the incident, but she has just been released from the hospital after 25 days.  She spoke to us from the DeBary Fire Station, where she started her career.  "Each day, I kind of realize how lucky I am that I was not worse," she said. "Literally, I was bruised from here down -- it was all bruised and my hip was cracked, my knee was torn, and I have ligaments with all kinds of repair."

Dorton said she still can not feel parts of her body. "My skin is still sensitive. I can't feel in areas, I can't feel my shins right now, I can't feel my feet."

She said she is happy to be home but is still in a bit of shock that she survived being hit by a car and rolled across a parking lot.   "I said that somebody must have been watching.  I must have a few angels on my shoulder, because to me, this shouldn't have been the way I came out. It was a blessing."

It will take weeks, maybe months, of recovery and possibly some more surgeries on her legs, but Dorton said she will be a firefighter again.  "Someone was in trouble. That's what we do. That's what we all do. We are all in this field for a reason. It's part of who we are.  We all love doing it."

Her family has started a GoFundMe account to help with her medical bills.  Click here for that GoFundMe link.