A Pittsburgh man sat in the street and held a trapped crash victim’s hand through her car window after he couldn’t free her from the wreckage.
Most of us have been in situations where we want to help someone in trouble but feel helpless to give them what they really need.
But it might be a small gesture from us that would comfort them and give them hope. That’s exactly what happened when Nathaniel Bunn couldn’t rescue a trapped driver but chose to sit with her and hold her hand.
Bunn was driving with his son and father on Sunday afternoon when they saw a car flip over on its roof in Pittsburgh’s Chateau neighborhood.
The crash happened right at the red light where they stopped. All three men jumped out of their car and ran to help the driver trapped inside.
“We tried to get it open, but we couldn’t. The door was jammed,” Bunn said. They found a tire iron from another person walking by and tried to pry the door open. Nothing worked.
The car sat upside down with the driver trapped inside.
Bunn made a choice that touched everyone who heard about it. He sat down in the street next to the overturned car.
“I resigned to sit down and just told her to hold my hand,” Bunn said.
Bunn couldn’t see the driver clearly. She wasn’t making any noise. But he reached his hand through the wreckage and found hers.
When she squeezed his hand back, Bunn felt relief wash over him. He started talking to comfort her.
“You can squeeze my hand, for comfort. Everything’s going to be OK. We can’t get the door open, but just hang on. Help’s on the way,” he told her.
Bunn stayed there holding her hand until Pittsburgh paramedics arrived. He said the experience affected him deeply.
“I was feeling kind of in despair. I don’t feel like that often. Just because of how the world is going on, a lot of things,” he said. “And a lot of people were videotaping and stuff.”
Watching people record the crash instead of helping bothered Bunn. But he focused on the woman who needed him.
After the paramedics took over, Bunn couldn’t stop thinking about the driver. He called Allegheny General Hospital to check on her condition.
“I did call AGH to ask how the crash accident was doing, and they said we can just tell you that no one’s critical,” Bunn said. “I didn’t know her name.”
The hospital could only tell him that no one was in critical condition. Bunn never learned the woman’s name, but he hopes she is healing well.
This experience changed how Bunn sees helping others. He wants people to learn from what happened.
“I’m glad that I was there to help her, and hope she was comforted by my actions,” Bunn said. “Everybody should maybe learn from this if it’s possible. If you see somebody in a situation where you can help, try to help them. Don’t be selfish.”
Sometimes we can’t fix what’s broken. Sometimes we can’t rescue people from their troubles. But we can always choose to stay. We can offer our presence when someone feels alone and scared.
WATCH: Man Sits by Car Wreck and Holds Stranger’s Hand Until Help Arrives
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