Adam Kinzinger suffered PTSD after saving a woman from being murdered by her boyfriend

The former US representative Adam Kinzinger is reflecting on a pivotal moment that helped shape his life and career.

In the new documentary The last republican – which opened in New York City cinema forum Friday – Kinzinger, 46, who served as U.S. Representative from Illinois from 2011 to 2023, talks about the development of his career and a violent encounter in 2006 that changed the trajectory of his life.

Kinzinger had just returned from pilot training and was leaving a German restaurant in Milwaukee at 12:26 a.m. when he was confronted by a harrowing sight. “I’m walking to my car when I hear a commotion, and this girl comes running towards me, holding her throat, bleeding,” he recalls in the documentary.

Kinzinger had only a split second to decide whether to intervene and risk his own life, a decision he admits was not easy. “They say that in a crisis half the people run, 40% freeze and 10% act. I felt every one of those emotions,” he says. “If someone had whispered ‘run’ to me, I would have run.”

In the end, his conscience did not allow him to leave. “There were two immediate thoughts that went through my head. The first was: “If I act, I will die.” The second was: “If I see this lady die and do nothing, I won’t be able to live with myself for the rest of my life.” ”

Kinzinger engaged in a tense struggle with the attacker that he describes as a “hand-to-hand fight.”

“I had the knife hand and I remember consciously feeling the knife hand trying to stab me,” he says. “Now it’s not a matter of pride, it’s a matter of life to win.”

After successfully pinning the man to the ground and waiting for police to arrive, Kinzinger was able to escape, but it took him months to process what had happened. “There was blood everywhere. The shirt that had all the blood on it, I didn’t dare wash it for some reason,” he says. “It stayed in the corner of my room, and about two or three months later, I started to realize that I had some PTSD… That moment on that street in Milwaukee changed my life completely.”

While he doesn’t regret his decision to intervene, Kinzinger admits he’s not sure he’d make the same decision today. “When you make the decision to give your life for a stranger, I mean, how can that not change you?” he says, getting emotional. “I never want to do that again, and I hope that if that happens to me again, I’m not sure I’d make the same decision.”

Despite his current ambivalence, the incident had a lasting impact on him. “Do I think I would have been sitting here today talking about what happened in my congressional career or even having a congressional career without the incident in Milwaukee? “Probably not.”

Since that night, Kinzinger’s life has taken many turns. He served in Congress for more than a decade before his political career came to an abrupt end in 2023, following his role as one of two Republican representatives who voted to create a committee to investigate the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. He was also part of the committee, where he condemned the former president donald trumpthe alleged involvement.

“I don’t think what I did was brave,” Kinzinger says of his isolation within the Republican Party. “I just think I’m surrounded by cowards.”

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Kinzinger, now a top political commentator for CNN, draws a parallel between the stabbing and his political career, saying: “What can you say about it except that it’s an honor to be able to perform? However, there is growing cynicism after things like the January 6 attack. Why would you try to defend these people? “They hate you.”

Looking ahead, Kinzinger says he is focused on “fighting that cynicism,” adding, “I don’t want the second half of my life to not be willing to risk my life for people…. Even MAGA people, maybe especially them because they need some inspiration or something they don’t get.”

“They are being lied to and abused,” he continues. “That’s the struggle of the second part of my life: making sure I can keep my head above water and find that again, find that inspiration again.”

The last republican It is currently screening at Film Forum in New York City before being released in other cities.