LICKING CO., OH (WBNS) — Days after a bus crash in Ohio killed six people, a first responder who arrived at the scene describes discovering that his father was involved.
Jeremy Wolverton followed in his father's footsteps, working in law enforcement.
"This is my 25th year being a peace officer in the state of Ohio. This is my 22nd year here with the sheriff's office," said Wolverton. "You hear about the brotherhood, sisterhood if you will, because of the nature of the job. It's a very, it's often times a very thankless job. It's a hard job. There's a lot of things, we put a lot of things up ahead of ourselves."
Tuesday was a day on the job Wolverton will never forget.
"[It was the] beginning of my shift and I was leaving the station and we heard about this massive crash," he recalled.
As a Licking County Sheriff's deputy, he responded to the scene to help close the road and detour traffic. At that point, he had no idea how close this situation was to him.
He answered a call from his mother, who said his father, Robert, had been in a crash and was taken to the hospital.
"Now, I wasn't putting two and two together. I didn't think he had anything to do with what was on the scene," said Wolverton.
But then, he searched the database in his cruiser.
"[The database] showed that my dad's car, our tag was in there and I'm like, 'oh my gosh,'" Wolverton recalled.
That's when he realized his father's car was involved in the crash he was at.
"Patrolman Shawn Grimm was actually the one who actually rescued my dad who was pinned in the car. I know Shawn and I sent out a personal thanks to him for that," said Wolverton. "He took the full brunt of that and I thank God that he made it out alive."
Six people lost their lives in this crash. But somehow, Wolverton's father survived.
"You can't explain these miracles. You can't explain them," he said.
He said he feels gratitude for first responders and his faith.
"I'm grateful for, you know, obviously I'm thankful to God, you know, because our faith is a huge component in our lives," said Wolverton.
