Trooper hit by car on Pittsburgh-area highway reunited with man who saved him
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A local state trooper risked his life to help someone he didn't know, never expecting he would soon need that same stranger to save him.
Thirty-three-year-old Josh Osche has worked for the Pennsylvania State Police for nearly 10 years. He's part of the criminal investigations unit at Troop D, Butler. He's never been seriously injured before.
"It's made me feel so delicate," Osche said. "I felt like an ant on that highway."
Osche's life was turned upside down on a dark, rainy August night on the Parkway West in Robinson. Osche stopped to help in a hit-and-run crash. The driver of a Subaru had hit a tow truck then ditched the car and took off.
He was off-duty, but called in to report it, parked behind the Subaru, put on his hazard lights and safety vest and had just dropped glow sticks when a passing car hit him.
Blair Johnson, the tow truck driver who was involved in the earlier crash, dragged Osche from the center lane of the Parkway to the side of the road, stabilized his neck and stayed with him until help arrived.
Now, fast forward to an emotional meeting as the good Samaritan and the trooper meet for the first time since that awful night. The two strangers put in the same spot for a reason are now reflecting on that frightening night.
"I saw it coming. I knew he didn't see it. He had his back turned. I just let out as loud as I could, a scream," Johnson said.
"He was hit in the front of the car. He rolled up the hood to the windshield where he then caught air off of the windshield," Johnson said.
"Ten-plus feet in the air, where he twisted and turned and did all kinds of acrobatics and came down behind the car on his back," Johnson said.
"When he landed, I didn't think there was any way somebody could survive that," Johnson said.
"I was on the ground looking down at my legs and seeing the center line underneath me," Osche said.
When asked if he felt like he was going to die, he said, "I felt like it was distinctly possible," Osche said.
"I put my palms down and tried to use my arms to push me back towards the other side," Osche said.
"I ran out to him," Johnson said. "I said, 'You okay?' And he said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Hang on because this is going to hurt.' And he said, 'Just go for it.'"
"I didn't want him to look at his legs because they were a gruesome sight," Johnson said.
"We just sort of bonded in those moments. Holding him. He kind of faded in and out a couple times. I really wasn't sure what was going on," Johnson said.
"We talked about little things: What troop are you in? How long you been a trooper? When did you go to the academy? Those types of things, just to keep his mind off of it," Johnson said.
"Everything about what he did, he was being so genuine. It was easy to have someone to talk to there," Osche said.
But once inside the ambulance, on the way to the hospital, the shock faded for Osche.
"Any defect or piece of gravel on the road radiated through my knee. It was a lot to stomach," Osche said.
"Fractures to tibia and fibula on both sides. My left leg is injured right at the tibial plateau. It's broken in five places."
Osche is on the road to recovery, but it's going to be a long one. He's had two surgeries and still can't put any weight on his legs.
He's in extensive physical therapy, doing some of that work at his parents' home where he's staying right now and is grateful for an outpouring of support that's still flooding in.
"It motivates me to keep pushing because everyone else is looking at me to be strong, to get better," Osche said.
Despite everything, Osche remains positive. He's eager to return to work, but until then, he wanted to share this message to anybody facing adversity.
"Stay in the fight. Something critical can happen to you, and that's not the end of it. There's more tasks to be completed. You are not done until you are dismissed," Oshe said.
"You just can't give up because someone threw a wrench in the machine. You have to keep pushing through especially until the next step can get there."
"I'm just really thankful. Very thankful," he said.
"I'm here today because of this guy here, 100 percent," Osche said.
"I never gave it a second thought. It was just a reaction to seeing a man in need," Johnson said.
"I definitely think God was on our side that night. Had me there for a reason," Johnson said.
When asked if he had a new friend, Osche said, "I got a lifelong buddy now," to which Johnson replied, "You got that right."
State police did recognize Osche's actions that night as him working in an official capacity and therefore workers' comp has covered all of his medical expenses.
The driver who hit him did stay on the scene and was not charged. However, the driver who caused the initial accident with the tow truck was eventually found and charged.
But for Osche and Johnson, this is about way more than that. For them, this is now about a bond that will never break.
