first responders
Jeff Flake, Brad Wenstrup reprise roles as heroes by assisting injured garbage men after horrifying collision with train
After the train carrying Republican lawmakers to their annual retreat in West Virginia collided with a garbage truck Wednesday, crushing the front of the vehicle, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) sprang into action. Unfortunately, it wasn't the first time the pair has had to act quickly in an emergency situation — both were involved in the heroic rescue of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) when he was shot during a congressional baseball game practice last year.
Wenstrup is a former Army combat surgeon, and Flake, although without formal medical training, has never been one to shy away from a person in need. The pair responded, along with physician Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and assisted the critically injured garbage men in the vehicle hit by the train. One of the men later died.
"We've been through this before," Flake told CNN, adding: "It's all too similar." Listen to him discuss the accident below. Jeva Lange