Family Searches for Mystery Hero Who Saved Couple Trapped in Icy River: 'I Owe That Man Everything'
When North Texas couple Bailey Cross and her fiancé, Brandon Bushaw, were driving home on the night of Feb. 2, the weather had taken an icy turn.
While Texas didn’t see the sort of devastating, widespread freeze it had the year before, this year’s ice storm still caused headaches and dangerous driving conditions, something the young parents of two nearly lost their lives over.
Bushaw lost control of their Infiniti sedan. They slid over the road, ran off the bridge they were on and crashed into the frigid river. Cross said she lost consciousness and woke to a medical team attending to her — but later she found out a good Samaritan had plunged in after them and pulled her from the car.
“I had passed out when we were in the car, and then, next thing I knew I had EMTs over me, and the man wasn’t there whenever I woke up, so I don’t know who it was. I haven’t gotten to see him yet,” Cross told KDFW.
While the unknown hero managed to wrench Cross out, he was unable to retrieve Bushaw. He had called 911, though, and first responders soon arrived, and a diver went in to get Bushaw.
“Last night crews were dispatched to a vehicle that lost control and went into the river,” the Boyd Fire Rescue Station 12 posted on Feb. 3. “Upon arrival crews identified one victim had been extricated and at least one victim still trapped in the vehicle. Wise county ESD 1 along with Wise County EMS deployed swift water rescuers into the water. Crews were able to retrieve the victim from the water. The victim was transported to Wise.
“The collective efforts of all agencies involved made the rescue possible. Wise County ESD #1 units assigned to the call were Chief 112, Engine 112, Rescue 112.”
Both Cross and Bushaw had been rescued — but Bushaw was barely clinging to life, having been in the car 30 to 45 minutes before being resuscitated. In the early stages of his rescue, his prognosis was not good, and doctors didn’t have much hope for him.
But as the days passed, Bushaw made an amazing recovery, gaining mobility and speaking to loved ones.
“One day he opened up his eyes, and then he moved his arm,” said Richard Bushaw, Brandon’s father. “It’s been a slow process, but each day he’s getting a little bit better, and they feel like he’s going to make a full recovery.”
A family friend set up a GoFundMe for Brandon, and on March 4, Brandon’s mom, Roxanne, provided a heartwarming update on her son’s condition.
“Leaving that hospital last night was one of the hardest thingsI’ve had to do in my life,” she wrote, according to an update on GoFundMe.
“Hearing my son say mom I almost died,hearing him say god saved me. I was in tears. He wiped my tears and said mom don’t cry, I’m ok. After all the tears he asked is subway open I’m hungry. So for any of ya’ll that don’t believe in miracles I’m watching one right before my eyes. BELIEVE BELIEVE BELIEVE! Love you son.”
The family has been desperately searching for their hero, but no one has stepped forward. They have very little to go off of, though they think he may have been driving a black Chevy Silverado pickup truck.
“I just saw him run across the road,” Lieutenant Jason Owens recalled. “He was in the cold water. And then I was pulling in with our engine, I just, I saw him coming up over the edge of the bank and then just took off toward his truck to go get warm. Even before I could make contact with him, he had left the scene.”
“It’s very selfless to, to jump into a river in 30 degree temperatures, in cold water, to, you know, try to save somebody,” Boyd Fire Rescue Chief Jason Paradise added. “It’s very selfless.”
Whether or not they ever identify their knight in shining armor, the family wants him to know just how grateful they are.
“He risked his own life to go in there because it was very cold that night,” Richard Bushaw said. “And I mean, you know, he could’ve died himself.”
“He’s an angel. I mean, if he wasn’t there, they’d both be dead, so, I mean, he pulled her out, and she, you know, got out of it, and he was, you know, there to make the phone call to 911.”
“I have no idea who he was, but, I mean, I owe that man everything,” Cross said.
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