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MURRAY — Brandon Wright isn't a religious man. He has no strong faith in an abiding power, but he's grateful to be alive.
"I'm lucky," he said Thursday. "Whatever saved me, I'm extremely grateful."
Then again, he knows who to thank for dragging him from beneath a wrecked car after lifting the vehicle with sheer manpower. Those are his "heroes," the ones who went above and beyond Monday after Wright's motorcycle collided with a BMW.
"It's not expected to risk your life for a complete stranger," Wright, 21, said. "That's what makes them special."
Wright, a student at Utah State University, was leaving campus Monday in Logan when the accident occurred about 11:45 a.m. Police say Wright was heading east on U.S. Highway 89 and swerved to avoid being hit by another vehicle that was pulling out of the parking lot across from the university's Lund Hall.
Wright knew he was in trouble and laid his bike down in an effort to protect himself.
When the bike and the BMW collided, Wright became pinned underneath the car. His bike burst into flames, catching the car on fire as well. Bystanders quickly ran to help and began lifting the car to free him and one man then pulled him to safety.
Video of the heroic actions was taken from a nearby building. That video has since been viewed by millions of people over the Internet and on national news shows.
"This definitely restores my faith in humanity and probably does for other people, too, which is probably why it's so popular," he said of the video. "They put their lives on the line for me. ... They stepped up and took a huge personal risk."
He looks a little beat up; he has a broken leg, pins in his leg, broken pelvis, he has some burns on his foot, but amazingly no brain or nerve damage.
He's always been a risk taker, and adventurer. He rock- climbs and sky dives, but he said he is going to be careful in everything he does now.
"I've always thought that life was extremely precious, but having this experience just makes it that much more precious to me. I should have died several times -really, I should have died when I hit the pavement, when I hit the car, when the car burst into flames. But I didn't," said Wright.
Doctors said it is absolutely amazing how he is doing since he got brought down from Logan. They said he is going to have a couple months of rehab and recovery, but they do expect him to make a full recovery.
Written by emorgan@ksl.com with contributions from acabrero@ksl.com
