[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 8362-8363]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING FOUR SAMARITANS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN E. PETERSON

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 28, 2005

  Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor four 
Samaritans that put their lives at risk to save a young man who was 
badly electrocuted after a car accident in rural Forest County, 
Pennsylvania, on February 12th of this year.
  On that snowy Saturday, Eric Wallace was driving on Blue Jay Road 
through the Allegheny National Forest, when he lost control of his 
pickup truck. The vehicle crossed the roadway and rolled over an 
embankment, landing on the driver's side. Mr. Wallace climbed out of 
his vehicle, but came into contact with live power lines buried in the 
snow. Mr. Wallace went down 50 feet from his wrecked truck, his face in 
the snow and a hand and foot aflame from the current passing though his 
body.
  Thankfully for Mr. Wallace, four men happened to be on this rural 
two-lane road on that winter Saturday. One man, Ron Weisenstein of 
nearby Sheffield was the first to happen by the accident scene, which 
he saw from his vehicle. Mr. Weisenstein pulled his vehicle over and 
ran to the injured passenger. Seeing the power lines across Mr. 
Wallace's body, Mr. Weisnesten instinctually pulled the victim away 
from the lines, only to receive powerful shock himself.
  Michael Brunner was working at his parent's house down the road from 
the accident when he heard the crash. After having his parents call 
911, Mr. Brunner ran down the road to join Mr. Weisenstein. Shortly 
thereafter, Brian Marshall came upon the accident. Appraising the 
situation, Mr. Marshall told the two others that he had a rope in his 
vehicle. Mr. Weisenstein took the rope and wrapped it around Mr. 
Wallace's left foot, finally pulling him off the downed power lines.
  The three men found Mr. Wallace to be without a heartbeat and not 
breathing. Mr. Brunner remembered the CPR training he had received as a 
Boy Scout in his youth and with the assistance of Mr. Weisenstein was 
able to get the injured man breathing again. Soon after Mr. Wallace 
started to breath on his own, Paul Hebert came across the accident. Mr. 
Hebert, an Emergency Medical Technician visiting the area from 
Manassas, Virginia, cleared Mr. Wallace's airways and helped stabilize 
the man until personnel from the Sheffield Volunteer Fire Department 
arrived. Mr. Wallace was taken by helicopter to the Intensive Care Burn 
Unit at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is now on the 
road to recovery.
  Mr. Speaker, without the assistance of these four gentlemen who 
happened to be on this quiet road through the forest on a winter's day, 
Eric Wallace would have likely died either from electrocution or 
exposure to the cold. We should all applaud their quick thinking, 
teamwork, and selflessness to help a fellow man, and I am honored to 
have the opportunity to highlight their actions.

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