EudoraNews.com

When 26-year-old Jesse Greco saw an overturned semi-truck Oct. 17 in a ditch on Kansas Highway 10, he couldn't remain a bystander.

Greco and his brother, Michael Armendariz, came upon the accident as they drove from Eudora, where Greco now lives, to Lawrence for a late dinner. After being flagged down by a witness to the single-car accident, Greco said he asked his brother to pull over.

"I went up to the front of the truck by the engine block and the cab, and I asked the driver if he needed help getting out," Greco said. "He said 'yes,' so I started kicking the windshield."

Greco, who served five years in the military, saw that kicking wasn't working, so he went to his brother's vehicle and found a baseball bat that he then used to break the windshield.

"My brother was worried about whether or not there could be gas leaking," Greco said. "I told him, 'I'm not leaving here without the driver.'

"The whole reason I went into the military was to help people, and I don't want to stop doing that."

Emergency personnel arrived and helped Greco pull the driver, Abdal Lahi Faid, out of the truck.

Faid was not injured in the crash, which occurred because of heavy rain and winds that blanketed Douglas County that evening.

Greco's friend Brian Lynch said his actions did not surprise him.

"With his military background, I'm sure that he wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing again today," Lynch said. "He's just an all-around, good person."

While Greco's military training helped him think and move quickly, his reasons for doing what he did are simple.

"It's not my duty as a soldier; it's my duty as a person," he said.á¿