Heroes lift car, saving student
A motorcycle erupted in flames after colliding with a BMW sedan, which subsequently caught fire and pinned rider and USU student Brandon Wright on Highway 89, Monday, behind the business building.
Head of USU’s department of management information systems John Johnson was behind the wheel of the BMW when Wright, who was swerving his motorcycle to avoid a collision, made contact with the sedan.
“The car was coming out of the parking lot and made a left-hand turn in front of the motorcycle,” USU Police Chief Steven Mecham said.
After contacting, Mecham said, both the car and the motorcycle, burst in to flames, and Wright, who had been riding the motorcycle, ended up underneath the car.
USU accounting major Austin Knutson, USU statistics graduate student Abbass Al Sharif and bystander Anvar Suyundikov were nearby when the collision occurred.
“I was working on my research, and all I hear is screaming in the math department, and I went out to see what’s happening,” Al Sharif said.
Al Sharif said after he saw what was happening, he acted on instinct and went with several others to help lift the car off of Wright.
“You can’t think of anything except going and joining in, that’s the first action, and the only action,” Al Sharif said.
He said that Wright was covered in gasoline and would have ignited if they didn’t pull him out.
“Because of the fire, and usually the bottom of cars are hot, I was really worried that it was going to be really, really bad when the guy got pulled out, but he seemed really beat up,” Knutson said, who also helped lift the car. “But he wasn’t horribly burned as far as I could see.”
Knutson said he saw smoke over the business building and went over to the scene. It was then he said he realized it couldn’t have come from a nearby construction site.
“Some people were kind of going over there; people were saying ‘oh no it’s going to explode,’ people were hesitant to get close,” Knutson said. “The guy underneath wasn’t moving, I was pretty sure that he was dead. Other people came there and started to try and lift the car, there were maybe six or so, the car was too heavy. So more people came over, that’s when I went over to help lift it the second time. As it was being lifted, somebody grabbed his leg and pulled him out.”
Al Sharif said people have been calling him a hero, though he said he doesn’t feel that way.
“This is being a human, I don’t think it’s being a hero,” Al Sharif said. “Either you do something or he’s going to die.”
Suyundikov, who helped pull Wright out, said, “Lots of blood close to the head — he didn’t breath at the time. When I pulled, it was kind of — blood — blood lined when I pulled the body.”
He said Wright was unconscious and started finally breathing shortly after they pulled him out from under the car.
“He was unconscious. First I thought he was dead. Because it was a lot of blood and he was white, very white,” Suyundikov said.
Al Sharif said members of the math department staff came out of Lund Hall and tried to help. He said some of them grabbed fire extinguishers and others tried to calm Johnson down.
“He was walking around; he was obviously pretty shaken up and worried, he didn’t look injured,” Knutson said of Johnson. “He was pretty worked up.”
Al Sharif said Johnson was recognized by people present at the incident.
“Some people were saying that he’s like the department head of the MIS,” Al Sharif said. “That’s what people were saying during the accident.”
Director of Communications for the School of Business Steven Eaton said he couldn’t comment on whether or not the John Johnson involved was the same John Johnson who is the head of the department of management information systems of the business college.
A follow-up call to the USU Police Department confirmed that it was the same Johnson.
Mecham said Wright, who was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, was taken to Logan Regional Hospital for treatment of his numerous injuries. He was then rushed to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, where he is being treated for his injuries, according to hospital staff.