It was otherwise an ordinary warm summer morning in late August, but what happened to a Town of Hempstead employee in a moment of quick thinking was hardly ordinary.

On Thursday, Aug. 23, at approximately 9:20 a.m., Orlando "Londy" Fasano, an employee of the Town of Hempstead Highway Department, was driving his jeep on his way to pick up parts. At the same time, a man operating a motorcycle was traveling southbound on Franklin Avenue in Franklin Square. According to police, the motorist was traveling at about the speed limit, although it could not be confirmed how fast he was going. An 81-year-old woman, traveling northbound on Franklin, attempted to make a left into the Pathmark Shopping Center.

Although the motorcyclist and the woman both had a green light, she attempted her left turn, apparently unaware of the motorcyclist, police said. The man operating the motorcycle struck the woman's car in the passenger door.

According to Sergeant Joseph Krauss of Nassau Police's Fifth Squad, the man was thrown about 50 feet, landing on the side of the road by the Sand Castle Restaurant. The man suffered multiple trauma injuries, including severe bleeding, a hand and leg injury and fractures to the skull.

According to a Town of Hempstead spokesperson, Fasano realized what had happened, evaluated the situation and noticed the motorcyclist had lost a hand and cut his leg down to the bone. "Most of the witnesses were in shock and couldn't really help out," the spokesperson said.

Fasano stopped traffic, but that wasn't all. He took off his belt, creating a tourniquet, and used it to apply pressure to the victim's leg. Fasano also kept the victim alive by talking to him until the EMS arrived. The victim was air lifted to the Nassau University Medical Center.

"I saw the accident and all the people just standing around and felt I just had to do something," Fasano said. "I got out of the jeep and saw all the blood and I took off my belt and made a tourniquet to stop the bleeding."

Krauss said the man survived the ordeal and doctors even managed to save his leg. The sergeant said that had Fasano not applied the tourniquet to the victim's leg, the victim would probably not be alive today.

Local lawmakers honored Fasano for his quick thinking and heroic act. Town of Hempstead Supervisor Richard Guardino presented a citation to the town employee and New York State Assemblyman Tom Alfano, who has a district office on Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square, presented Fasano with a state citation.

"One never hears about the unsung heroes in many incidents like this. I wanted to tell Londy we not only appreciated what he did, but I wanted to thank him personally for looking out for his fellow man," Alfano said.