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PITTSBURGH — An off-duty Pennsylvania state trooper went out of his way to help a stranger, never expecting he would soon need that same person to save him.
Trooper Josh Osche, 33, has kept highways safe as a member of the Pennsylvania State Police for nearly 10 years. He’s currently assigned as part of the criminal investigations unit at Troop D. He’s managed to avoid serious injury until August of this year when, off-duty, he stopped to assist at the scene of a collision, CBS News Pittsburgh reported.
On a rainy summer night, Osche’s life turned upside down when he pulled behind a Subaru on Parkway West in Robinson Township. The crashed turned out to be a hit-and-run. The Subaru driver struck a tow truck then ditched the car and took off.
Osche turned on his hazard lights and donned a safety vest as he deployed glow sticks when a passing motorist struck him.
“It’s made me feel so delicate,” Osche said. “I felt like an ant on that highway.”
Blair Johnson is the tow truck driver who was involved in the earlier crash. He dragged Osche from the center lane of the Parkway to the side of the road, stabilized his neck and stayed with him until additional help made it to the scene.
After first responders arrived, the off-duty trooper was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to a hospital. While enroute, 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 has had two surgeries and still can’t put any weight on his legs. He knows it’s going to be a long road to recovery involving extensive physical therapy. He is doing some of that work at his parents’ home where he’s staying right now and is grateful for an outpouring of support that continues to flood in.
Some of that emotional support was recently having a chance to reunite with Johnson, the tow truck driver who dragged him to safety, CBS News Pittsburgh reported.
“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 noted.
“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. When he landed, I didn’t think there was any way somebody could survive that.”
“I was on the ground looking down at my legs and seeing the center line underneath me,” Osche recalled.
When asked if he felt like death was imminent, he said, “I felt like it was distinctly possible.”
“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.”
“Everything about what he did, he was being so genuine. It was easy to have someone to talk to there,” Osche said.
“I’m just really thankful. Very thankful,” Osche said. “I’m here today because of this guy here, 100 percent.”
“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.”
When asked if he had a new friend, Osche said, “I got a lifelong buddy now,” to which Johnson replied, “You got that right.”
The trooper remains optimistic while on the road to recovery, and looks forward to the day he is able to return to work.
The driver who struck Osche remained at the scene and was not charged. However, the initial driver in the Subaru who struck Johnson before fleeing was later found and charged.
Although Osche was off-duty when he stopped at the scene of the crash, the Pennsylvania State Police recognized his actions that night as him working in an official capacity. As a result, workers’ comp has covered his medical expenses.
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