OGDEN — A nurse who had just finished his shift at McKay-Dee Hospital found himself taking over at the scene of a rollover accident Friday.
Jared Nielson, 36, of Roy, said he was driving west on 31st Street around 3:15 p.m. to pick up his daughter from school when he witnessed a red car heading west hit a white Chevrolet Suburban turning onto Interstate 15. The Suburban spun several times and flipped onto its side, while the red car sustained serious damage to its front end.
“It was almost like cop videos, where they do the PIT maneuver,” Nielson said. “The Suburban did a 720.”
Nielson rushed to the Suburban and began assessing how to help the occupants. Other witnesses had gathered around the vehicle but didn’t know how to handle the situation.
“I think they were just kind of in shock,” he said.
But Nielson’s training as a nurse allowed him to act swiftly to free the female driver and several children.
Nielson said he saw one of the children punching on the passenger door and was able to wedge it open to get the child out. The driver’s side of the Suburban was pinned against the ground, so Nielson kicked out the windshield to get the woman out before helping rescue the others.
“I just flipped into nurse mode. I just said, ‘Here, do this,’ and ‘Here, do that.’ I hope that someone else would have done that for me. I just did what anybody else would have done in that situation.”
Nielson said everyone in the Suburban was wearing a seat belt, and Ogden Police Lt. Tony Fox said no one in the vehicle was injured. The two occupants of the red car were treated for injuries that weren’t believed to be serious.
Fox said the woman driving the Suburban was issued a citation for failure to yield.
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