‘Made him aware he was not alone’


By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

BAZETTA

Michele Davis of Bristolville didn’t expect to use her nurse’s training on her commute into work Friday morning, but a tragic accident on state Route 5 brought her face to face with a dying man who had been hit by a truck.

inline tease photo
Photo

Michele Davis

The Ohio State Highway Patrol has not identified the man, but said he died after being hit by an eastbound semi-tractor trailer near the Perkins Jones Road exit as he tried to cross the highway from south to north around 6:22 a.m.

Davis was also traveling east behind a trooper with the Ohio State Highway Patrol. They apparently both saw the man’s body in the middle of the eastbound lane about the same time and stopped their cars.

Having worked closely with police officers in the past, Davis told the officer: “My name is Michele, and I’m a nurse,” and proceeded onto the highway, where she determined the injured man had a faint pulse. She told that to the officer, who then moved his cruiser into position to prevent any other vehicles from getting too close.

“I held his hand and prayed for him, made him aware he was not alone,” Davis said. “I knew he wasn’t going to survive,” she said. “I held his hand until he passed.”

By the time the trooper returned to her a minute or so later, the man appeared to have already died. When emergency medical technicians arrived, they took over his care.

Fortunately her employer, a Niles nursing home, was understanding of what she had experienced and told her to take the day off.

But it bothered her to not know who the man was, so she used a Champion buy-sell-trade site on Facebook to ask whether anyone knew him. Lots of people responded but nobody knew his identity.

“I took a nap and when I woke up, I was contacted by the family, and they told me of their gratitude,” she said.

Talking to the family helped her come to grips with what happened.

“It’s good to know he was somebody’s somebody. We’re all somebody’s somebody,” she said.

Davis said she was “crying all morning” after she left the highway, but talking to the family “gave me peace. It made the morning’s events just a little bit easier.”

Davis agreed not to identify the man until after the family had more time, she said.

The state patrol also did not release the name of the driver. The truck was traveling east and was in the right lane at the time of the crash.

The crash caused a slowdown of eastbound traffic on the highway because of one lane of travel being closed.

Assisting at the scene were the Bazetta Township police and fire departments, Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office, and Ohio Department of Transportation.

By using this site, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.

» Accept
» Learn More