(WXYZ) — A Macomb County teacher is recovering in the hospital after being hit by a truck while trying to help a stranded driver in St. Clair County.
Around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Jesse Siress, a welding and manufacturing teacher at Sterling Heights Stevenson High School, was driving with his family when they spotted a man pushing a stalled vehicle alone on County Line Road near 26 Mile Road. They pulled over and Siress got out of his car to help. As he crossed the road to the other car, an oncoming truck hit him.
Watch Brett Kast's video report below:
"It just came out of nowhere. I was there and next thing you know, I was like woah," Siress said.
Watch our extended interview with Jesse Siress below:
His wife, Kristen Siress, and their daughter were in the car heading to a dance competition and witnessed the crash.
"Extremely traumatizing. I still think about it and I’ll never be able to unsee what I saw," Kristen Siress said. "I was just screaming. I was just in shock and so was my daughter."
Four days and multiple surgeries later, Jesse Siress remains hospitalized in good spirits with multiple broken bones, including a severe break in his arm.
"This arm was completely sheared through the bicep there, right arm" Jesse Siress said, while making a joke about the humerus bone break not being very "humerous." "That one was a clean break that popped out of the skin."
Friends, family and current and former students have rallied to support the teacher. His friend, Eric Coy, started a GoFundMe over the weekend to help with expenses. As of Tuesday evening, the fundraiser surpassed $14,000.
"It was 50 bucks, then I sneezed and it was 600 and then I blinked and it was two grand," Coy said. "Because of the way he cultivates relationships, because of the way that he is involved with his family and his community and his profession, people gravitate to that, and that's 100% all it was."
"It's been a blessing to know we have all these people out there helping us get through this," Kristen Siress said. "We could've lost him, and I don't know what we would've done without him."
Jesse Siress faces a long road to rehabilitation and recovery. He is sad to miss the end of the current school year but remains hopeful he will return for the next.
“Really bummed out I cant help them finish the year because we have senior capstone stuff going on right now, so it hurts my heart a little bit,” Jesse Siress said. "I mean, I'm broken, but my spirit's not broken."
Jesse Siress hopes the incident leads to safety improvements, noting the intersection lacks sidewalks and crosswalks, and hopes it can be made safer.
You can find his GoFundMe here.
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