JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — A 23-year veteran of the Jefferson Parish deputy motorcycle unit is recovering tonight after being injured in a crash on the job.
But today he took a break from his rehab to meet a young man, less than half his age, who is partially responsible for his survival.
Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputy, Lieutenant Robert Saman, and third-year LSU Health Sciences Center medical student, Michael McMahon never thought they'd have such a deep, personal connection during their second meeting.
The lieutenant remembers nothing about the first time he met Michael on Saturday, January 29. That's because he was lying in the middle of the street in River Ridge on Sauve Road and Tiffany Drive, unconscious after he had been in a motorcycle wreck.
Michael stopped to see if he could help. Lt. Saman was bloody, concussed, with a terribly broken leg.
“I would like to know what happened because I don't remember anything,” Saman, 58, asks McMahon.
Michael recounted the entire scene.
“I noticed you kept kind of choking on your tongue a little bit, and then somebody else walked up and helped you in a chin tilt, head lift position,” answered McMahon, 25, an LSU Health Sciences Center third-year medical student.
He explained to him moment by moment what he, and others who stopped, did.
“I unzipped your jacket and he was able to cut your shirt, and your mask off, to allow you to breath. This whole time you were unconscious,” McMahon continued.
Lt. Saman says on the police force it is considered a high honor to save a life. He said Michael did not have to stop that day.
“This is the best thing anybody can do. You just bought a life back, and that's what you did for me, and I really appreciate you,” said Lt. Saman.
He said the fact that his $250 police, motorcycle unit boots, had to be cut off, is as painful as his injuries. They have to buy them on their own. And he appreciates his law enforcement family who has never left his side.
“I mean I had tears you know because a lot of emotion came in. These guys that I work with, they came out there just to hold my hand and say that we missed you, ‘I love you,’” Saman recalls of the day he came home from the hospital.
Lt. Saman has months to go as his leg recovers and his eye recovers also from seeing double from his head injury. He is very apologetic to his wife for having to care for him, and he can't wait to get back on the streets to protect and serve.
“And I can do what I love to do, is being what I love to do, is save the resident of Jefferson Parish and be there for them,” said Lt. Saman.
But that's not all the Jordanian-born man is missing. It's Mardi Gras with his “other brothers.”
“I am a member of the 610 Stompers. Don't hold it against me. I can't dance. I try to dance, but they put me in the back,” he laughed.
Michael is unsure what specialty he wants to go into, but one thing these two are sure of is a life-long bond.
“I'm just really thankful for Mr. Saman and for all the other first responders, police officers, and firefighters that we have to look after our community. I mean, they do this kind of stuff on an everyday basis, and never get any attention for it,” said McMahon.
Police say no one was cited as a result of that crash.