CARMEL, Ind. – Basketball is a game of quick reactions, and like basketball, life can be dependent on those timely reactions. For Anderson University men’s basketball student athlete Maurice Knight, his quick actions likely saved lives.
On Tuesday August 4, 2020, Maurice was driving with friend Jake Richwine when the two noticed a pair of trucks seemingly out of place in a field. As they slowly drove by trying to evaluate what had happened, they saw a man sit up, likely at the sound of their car, and he appeared to need their help.
“It looked like half of his head was gone, there was so much blood,” recalled Maurice. “So, we stopped and jumped out of the car to check on him. He obviously wasn’t good, and it looked like he had been ejected from the car.”
While the two men were administering aid, they could hear the other driver calling out for help but could not see him.
“He was asking for help, but we had no idea where he was,” Maurice said. “It didn’t sound like he was in his truck, and then finally we looked in his truck, and he was folded up on the floor and we hurried to call 911.”
A first responder arrived shortly thereafter, but the two men stayed, diligently adhering to the directions from the first responder.
“When the first responder came, there was only one guy, and we thought there’s two people and only one of him,” noted Maurice. “We never thought twice about what we did. He told us what we could do, and we did it. I don’t think we ever thought about what exactly was going on. We just thought we need to help these guys, they need our help.”
Using the shirts off their backs to administer aid, the two men stayed by the victims sides. Their goal was to keep both the injured as calm as possible until more help arrived. Both victims were later life-lined, Elwood Police Department Assistant Chief Kyle Comer shared, but both are still alive due in part to the quick and selfless response of Knight and Richwine.