Watch CBS News

Motorcycle Crash Victim's Family Thanks Good Samaritan, Calls Her Their Miracle

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It was an accident so horrific that witnesses thought, for certain, that the driver was dead.

But 29-year-old Robert Brubaker of Etna survived that motorcycle crash on Route 28 near Pittsburgh Mills on July 27. His family credits his helmet and several passersby for saving his life.

KDKA's Kym Gable talked to Brubaker's sister, Ashley, at Allegheny General Hospital.

Brubaker will undergo another surgery there to try to save his left arm.

Doctors were forced to amputate his right arm, and a spinal injury has left him paralyzed from the waist down.

"It's a miracle she was there," Ashley Brubaker said of Cristin Rowe, who jumped over the median on Route 28 to help the victim.

"It was absolutely one of the worst things I've seen in my entire life," said Rowe. "I just kind of stayed face to face with him 'cause a lot of people were talking and I was trying to keep him focused. He kept trying to close his eyes, so I just talked to him the entire time."

Rowe said another Good Samaritan tied a makeshift tourniquet around Brubaker's arm.

"God put me in a place at the right time. That was an accident that should have taken his life that night and it didn't," said Rowe.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter

Ashley said her brother is a fighter.

"He has a daughter, a beautiful little girl he's fighting for and he's strong. This is the biggest fight of his life," she said.

"Prosthetics for Bobby" is Robert's Go Fund Me account. You can visit the page by clicking here.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.