Aryann Smith, a young mother from Utah, was hit by a commuter bus, which knocked her to the ground and pinning her between it and the asphalt.
Aryann Smith, 24, was entirely covered by the vehicle aside from a tennis shoe that was able to help a responding officer locate her.
Being unable to pull her out, West Valley City Officer Kevin Peck crawled down to her, hoping at first just to make sure she was still breathing.
Officer Kevin Peck told ABC News: “I had to go past her leg and I could see that her right knee and thigh were completely opened up, just pulled back.”
“I could see right into her leg,” he said, though was able to see she was still breathing, though immobilized by her pinned shoulders.
Kevin Peck took Aryann Smith’s hand and talked to her, laying down beneath the bus beside her, doing all he could to keep her conscious and to take her mind off of the accident.
When she asked about her injuries, the officer advised her attention to not look down.
“She said several times that she was really scared, but she maintained her composure very well. She was pretty calm and asked me not to leave her,” Kevin Peck recalled.
“I told her I would stay with her until we got her out.”
Fortunately for them both, in less than ten minutes following the crash, fire fighters were able to lift the bus off of her, just enough for her removal.
Taken to a nearby hospital, Aryann Smith is not expected to lose her leg with just her kneecap broken.
Standing there at the scene behind Aryann Smith’s now absence, however, Kevin Peck told ABC that for several minutes he could only stand in “a daze”, stunned by all that had just happened around him.
Snapping out of it he says not long after, Kevin Peck got back to work, directing traffic around the scene.
Following her operation, Aryann Smith had been asking to see her hero.
“I guess she asked about me a few times before and after the surgery,” Kevin Peck said.
“I’m glad I was able to see her. She has a few more surgeries ahead of her, but she is doing well, all things considered. The doctors say she should make a full recovery and be able to walk again,” Kevin Peck said.
According to a witness at the scene Jonathan Logan, Aryann Smith was in the middle of the crosswalk when the driver turned into her.
Jonathan Logan says that Aryann Smith was dragged about 15 feet before the driver realized someone was there beneath his wheels, according to Fox13.
The driver of that bus has since been placed on administrative leave and was also ticketed for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, according to West Valley City Police Sgt. Mike Powell speaking to ABC.
