Employee takes lifesaving action!

By Lois Bentivegna

Posted on November 17, 2017

(l-r) John Bruckner, Jim Brown (IBEW), Ron Bauer (IBEW), Kurt Busch, Erik Klein, John Dooney, Bob De Marinis, and Ken Daly

For Kurt Busch, a Working Underground Foreman in Gas Construction, the day began like any other. Little did he know that before noon on November 2, Kurt would save someone’s life and the incredible story would end up on the evening news.

On this fateful day, Kurt was driving on New York’s Southern State Parkway on his way to a job site when his work phone began to ring. Putting safety first, Kurt pulled over to a safe and legal area of the road to take the call. That’s when he noticed a young man walking along the side of one of the entrance ramps. Kurt had the uneasy feeling that the person didn’t fully understand the hazards of this extremely busy highway, so he continued to watch him closely. Just then, the young man darted into the middle of the parkway – cars were swooshing past him on both sides. Kurt immediately ended his phone call, dialed 911, and then jumped into action. He ran to the young man’s aid and had to physically move him to safety. 

State Troopers soon arrived and Kurt’s actions were also witnessed by undercover FBI personnel who happened to be traveling the parkway at the same time. Kurt later found out that his hunch was right – the young man has autism, a condition Kurt and his family are familiar with. Kurt says he just knew he had to keep a close eye on him.

That evening, Kurt’s actions were told on local news station, News 12,  National Grid and IBEW Local 1049 recognized Kurt with a lifesaving award for his heroic efforts to help a member of our community  – but Kurt says it was just the right thing to do …