Former Sniper First on Scene at Multiple Bus Crash
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Joe [email protected]
Brian was at his business, Special O.P.S. K9 Academy, north of North Webster, as he watched his son Marcus step off the bus. Before Marcus could get more than three feet after clearing the front of his bus, both heard a noise.
“I heard it rolling, I thought it was weird she’d start moving with me still on the road,” said Marcus, a freshmen at Wawasee High School. “I saw bus 28 had hit bus 44 and I started backing up thinking ‘oh, this is crazy.’”
Brian watched as the four-bus chain reaction crash unfolded behind his son.
“I heard this noise like rolling thunder, boom, boom,” Brian said, describing the four school buses colliding as his son narrowly escaped. That’s when he went into action.
“I was in the Marines and then part-time law enforcement, so what went through my head is what I’m trained to do, save lives,” Brian stated. He instructed his wife Stephanie to call 911.
“She was the eyes and ears,” Brian said. “We work well together. I pulled kids out of the wreckage while she spoke with the dispatcher.”
When he arrived at the first bus, students were climbing out of the windows to escape.
“I had probably 10 to 15 students jumping out of the windows at me,” he said, describing how he assisted students from the first bus. “I was helping them down, not knowing if any had leg injuries. Finally I told them to get out single file out the door.”
While he pulled students from the buses, more help arrived. Employees from Clark’s Marine and Brian’s neighbor Ryan assisted students off the buses.
“The second to last off the buses was the bus driver and he wasn’t doing well,” Brian said. “He complained about his abdomen and wasn’t walking well. There’s no way I could have got that bus driver down without them.”
Brian attributed his quick response to both his military and law enforcement training.
“I did special operations as a sniper in the Marine Corps where I took the combat lifesaver course,” Brian said. “I needed to know how to assess a situation with combat lifesaving. That, along with first responder training as law enforcement.”
Brian did two tours in Okinawa, Japan with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine. Brian was also a part time sheriff’s deputy before opening his K9 academy.
Paramedics arrived on scene as Brian and his impromptu team unloaded the final bus, setting up staging areas while Brian swept every bus to make sure no one was left unconscious or trapped.
“To those students... he was like a god-send,” said Tom Edington, superintendent of Wawasee Schools. Edington was on-scene at the accident and had heard of Brian’s actions.
Marcus described his father’s actions.
“I’m pretty impressed, seeing him pulling kids out of the buses and the driver that was injured,” Marcus said. As the buses collided behind him, he reflected his father’s selflessness.
“I wasn’t thinking about my life at all,’ Marcus said, “I was more worried about those in the last two buses.”
While Brian’s response was impressive, he doesn’t take all the credit.
“Everyone did a good job, it’s always good to see a community response like that,” he said.
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Brian was at his business, Special O.P.S. K9 Academy, north of North Webster, as he watched his son Marcus step off the bus. Before Marcus could get more than three feet after clearing the front of his bus, both heard a noise.
“I heard it rolling, I thought it was weird she’d start moving with me still on the road,” said Marcus, a freshmen at Wawasee High School. “I saw bus 28 had hit bus 44 and I started backing up thinking ‘oh, this is crazy.’”
Brian watched as the four-bus chain reaction crash unfolded behind his son.
“I heard this noise like rolling thunder, boom, boom,” Brian said, describing the four school buses colliding as his son narrowly escaped. That’s when he went into action.
“I was in the Marines and then part-time law enforcement, so what went through my head is what I’m trained to do, save lives,” Brian stated. He instructed his wife Stephanie to call 911.
“She was the eyes and ears,” Brian said. “We work well together. I pulled kids out of the wreckage while she spoke with the dispatcher.”
When he arrived at the first bus, students were climbing out of the windows to escape.
“I had probably 10 to 15 students jumping out of the windows at me,” he said, describing how he assisted students from the first bus. “I was helping them down, not knowing if any had leg injuries. Finally I told them to get out single file out the door.”
While he pulled students from the buses, more help arrived. Employees from Clark’s Marine and Brian’s neighbor Ryan assisted students off the buses.
“The second to last off the buses was the bus driver and he wasn’t doing well,” Brian said. “He complained about his abdomen and wasn’t walking well. There’s no way I could have got that bus driver down without them.”
Brian attributed his quick response to both his military and law enforcement training.
“I did special operations as a sniper in the Marine Corps where I took the combat lifesaver course,” Brian said. “I needed to know how to assess a situation with combat lifesaving. That, along with first responder training as law enforcement.”
Brian did two tours in Okinawa, Japan with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine. Brian was also a part time sheriff’s deputy before opening his K9 academy.
Paramedics arrived on scene as Brian and his impromptu team unloaded the final bus, setting up staging areas while Brian swept every bus to make sure no one was left unconscious or trapped.
“To those students... he was like a god-send,” said Tom Edington, superintendent of Wawasee Schools. Edington was on-scene at the accident and had heard of Brian’s actions.
Marcus described his father’s actions.
“I’m pretty impressed, seeing him pulling kids out of the buses and the driver that was injured,” Marcus said. As the buses collided behind him, he reflected his father’s selflessness.
“I wasn’t thinking about my life at all,’ Marcus said, “I was more worried about those in the last two buses.”
While Brian’s response was impressive, he doesn’t take all the credit.
“Everyone did a good job, it’s always good to see a community response like that,” he said.
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