MSG Steve Bush Rescues Crash Victim

Story by SGT Charles Ames   -   Posted Mar, 2002

Steve Bush took the morning off from his work as the chief instructor for mechanical training at Boeing to take his family to the doctor for tests.  He's also a Master Sergeant with the Washington Army National Guard.  He and his family were moments from getting on an elevator to the doctor’s office in Everett when Bush heard tires squealing in the parking garage. He wondered if teens were taking advantage of a handy echo chamber for a little harmless thrill.

But the sound continued and seemed loud for the conditions. Bush looked out of the foyer to see a nearby 4-wheel drive truck against a pillar, it’s tires spinning at full speed and creating a thick veil of smoke. Bush notified his wife to continue up and call 911.

He went up to the truck and knocked on the heavily tinted window.  No one responded, but the truck was slowly edging sideways around the pillar, which was preventing it from driving off the side of the parking structure.  Feeling around the other side of the truck through the solid smoke, he finally found the seam of the passenger side and the door handle, but the door was locked.

Soon fire began to appear at the back of the truck. Cars tried to proceed through the area, but Bush turned them around to make room for the fire and rescue when they arrive.

A few moments later, fire sprinklers were set off. Bush went back into the foyer to take a couple of deep breaths, then ran under a sprinkler to soak himself.  He grabbed his knife out of his car and intended to break the truck’s window when the driver’s side popped open and the driver fell into his arms.  Bush took him out of the smoke and danger.  He determined that the man was suffering from shock and had just begun a seizure. He took him into the building and located a wheelchair.

The Fire Department had called the building and told everyone to evacuate.  Bush located his family and they started down the stairwell.  On the way, Bush encountered a nurse having an asthma attack and put her arm around his neck and became a crutch to help her down.  As they emerged, fire equipment pulled up.

What Bush could not have known is that the man had undergone brain surgery two weeks earlier, and happened upon him just at the onset of a seizure.

For his heroic actions MSG Bush received the Guardsman Medal.