Power WR, crash victim forge lasting friendship from harrowing ordeal

Aaron Lesue raced to the crash scene not knowing what to expect.

He found the SUV resting on its roof, flames starting to spread under the hood. Inside the vehicle, the driver, figure skater Brianna Hatch, hung upside down from what remained of a seatbelt. A breeze blew smoke from the engine into her face.

“I was very afraid when she wasn't responding,” said Lesue, a receiver for the Power but at the time — a year ago Thursday — a member of the Arena Football League's Utah Blaze. “I tried not to show it. I was probably more scared than at any other time I can remember.”

Lesue is an accomplished athlete, the leading receiver in the AFL this season and an Olympic hopeful in bobsled and rugby. But at that moment, he felt helpless.

“In a football game, you are prepared for any situation,” he said. “But for that situation, I was totally unprepared.

“You don't want someone dying in your arms.”

Lesue was on his way home from Blaze practice when, one exit before he normally left Interstate 15 south of Salt Lake City — he saw Hatch's vehicle suddenly avoid a car that had drifted in front of hers.

Hatch's SUV hit the concrete median barrier at full speed, skidded across the roadway and landed on its roof. Two cars behind, Lesue immediately pulled over and ran across the busy highway.

“The first thing you think of is somebody might need some help,” he said.

Several other motorists stopped. Someone ran for a fire extinguisher. Another called 911. Lesue and four others cradled their arms around Hatch and carefully removed her from the wreckage.

“We kept telling her it was OK,” said Lesue, who held Hatch's head. “We didn't know if she had any internal injuries. We were literally praying for her to be OK, but in your heart … ”

Hatch, 25, never lost consciousness. She spent one day in the hospital with wrist, clavicle, lower-back and head injuries. She remains a student at Brigham Young University, where she is a figure skating instructor and member of the university's team. A former member of Team USA who has competed internationally, she has resumed her skating career.

“I have come a long way as far as the recovery and how my life is coming along,” she said. “(Surviving the accident) is something I am really grateful for.

“Not a day goes by that I don't think about my accident. But at least the reminders (pain) aren't there anymore.”

What remains is the friendship that grew between Lesue and Hatch. It started when Hatch — in shock and trying to breathe through injured ribs — looked up at her rescuers and found Lesue's hand.

“I was very confused and scared,” she said. “There was a hand close by me, and I felt the need to reach out and grab it and squeeze it.

“It gave me a sense of peace.”

Not knowing Hatch's condition, Lesue later contacted her via Facebook. They stay in touch through social media and text messaging.

She and her family were Lesue's guests at a Blaze game last season. When he scored a touchdown, he ran to Hatch's seat and handed her the football.

Lesue said the crash changed his outlook on life and helped his career.

“It didn't distract me,” he said “If anything, it made me play better. It gave me something to play for.

“Sometimes you take things for granted, and you forget life can be short. You pass by a ton of people every day, and you wave at them or smile at them, but to actually go from driving down the road one minute to caring for someone you don't even know the next, it was good for me to reevaluate myself.

“After that experience, you hug everyone you know. People you don't know, you want to shake their hand.”

Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.