Wabaunsee Co. Sheriff recognizes act of heroism

WABAUNSEE COUNTY (KSNT) - The Wabaunsee County Sheriff's Office is recognizing a man for offering aid to a person stranded on a highway.

On Tuesday, Wabaunsee County Undersheriff Eric Kirsch saw a man driving a pickup truck pull into the median to assist a woman who slid off the road and became fully stuck in the snow.

"Yesterday was dismal," Kirsch said. "Ice infested roads, relentless whips of skin breaking wind. Power outages, stranded motorists, injuries & collisions. It was a day parade of abject hostility."

Kirsch said he was providing traffic control for a semi-truck that went off the road when he saw the man stop to render assistance. Kirsch said he only caught the man's first name, Mike.

"A highway median during an ice storm is about as safe as careless fingers under shadow of an active bandsaw," the Sheriff's Office said on Facebook. "You are stuck in snow, encircled by two massive walls made lethal by unstable & sometimes unstoppable moving vehicles. It is true pure danger."

Kirsch pulled up behind Mike with his emergency lights on and directed traffic away from the fast lane.

"We shook hands and said 'good luck.'," the Facebook post said.

Mike tethered the woman's SUV to his rear hitch, gunned it and broke her free from the ditch.

"I watched Mike, now parked in a downhill ice encrusted lane of highway traffic rapidly unhook their vehicles," Kirsch said. "She lept out with tears in her eyes and landed a MASSIVE bear hug on him before returning to her vehicle."

Kirsch commended Mike's heroism for quietly helping a stranger in need.

"I warmly invite you to see what yesterday here in Wabaunsee County Kansas, this great deed of pure courage & goodness that I did see..." Kirsch said. "Grateful are we for and to you, Mike & the courage you quietly carried to a stranger in need. Happy is a nation who has heroes. Happy are we for those like Mike."