Good Samaritan stopped to help those injured in pileup he narrowly missed


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SOUTH OGDEN — A family involved in a 29-vehicle pileup over the weekend said they gained something unexpected from the harrowing ordeal: the knowledge that perfect strangers can reach out when help is needed most.

Scott Nichols said his 9-year-old son is well, and bragging about his stitches, thanks in part to a stranger who helped them along this stretch of I-15 near Brigham City.

Nichols and his two sons were on the road Saturday morning when a snowstorm changed everything.

“(I) started to slow down, and it was too late," Nichols said. "I saw a lot of cars up ahead, a lot of brake lights. I told the boys, ‘Hang on! We’re gonna hit.’”

“(Nichols’) black vehicle hit, spun (and) started spinning off to the right; and I was headed straight for the car he just impacted,” said Ric Scothern, another driver who was heading north to pick up his wife.

“All of a sudden it was just all chaos,” Scothern said. “I looked up in my mirror, and I saw a white suburban sliding sideways, coming straight at me.

He moved quickly to the shoulder to avoid impact.

“To be honest, my initial feeling was ‘I’m out here, I’m out of Dodge,’ you know. It was so unbelievable,” Scothern said.

But looking at the crushed metal and a semitruck off the road, the former Box Elder County search and rescue dive team member had a realization.

A snowstorm triggered a 26-vehicle pileup on I-15 near Brigham City Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014. (Photo: Utah Department of Public Safety)
A snowstorm triggered a 26-vehicle pileup on I-15 near Brigham City Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014. (Photo: Utah Department of Public Safety)

“(I) called my wife, and I says, ‘You’re gonna have to be late to work … I can’t believe it. I just drove through the middle of a pileup, and I can’t leave. There’s gonna be some people hurt here, and I’ve gotta do what I can,’” Scothern said.

Meanwhile, Nichols was in his vehicle just trying to compose himself.

“Ric showed up (and) wanted to make sure everybody was OK,” he said.

Nichols’ son Tennesee had a gash on his head, and Scothern helped cover the wound before running over to a car that’s occupants were in much worse shape.

“There’s definitely people that come across your life in times of need,” Nichols said.

As Scothern was running by, checking on others here along I-15, he said he heard something unusual, far beyond your typical call for help: singing, coming from inside a Honda Accord.

“As I was coming back, she was singing ‘I Need Thee Every Hour,’” Scothern said. “She was leaning to her faith.”

He said that woman helped turn something that was frantic into an “unbelievable, surreal experience.”

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