A 27-year-old man stranded in his car during the deadly Buffalo blizzard last week is being hailed as a hero after saving more than a dozen lives. Jay Withey broke into a nearby school in Erie County, New York, for shelter, then ventured back into the storm to search for others.
Police confirmed that Withey ensured 24 people stranded on the roadside reached safety. At least 39 people died in the area, one of the hardest hit by the storm. 'It was the only time in my life I actually thought I was going to die,' Withey said in a local radio interview.
On 23 December, Withey was trapped in his truck with another person he had pulled off the street. After snow piled up against his vehicle, he sought help at nearby houses but was turned away. Later that evening, an elderly woman knocked on his car door, 'scared for her life and freezing,' and joined them. They rotated the car on and off for heat until fuel ran out.
Withey then spotted the school, broke a classroom window, and entered the cafeteria for food and water. He soon returned to the brutal cold to rescue more people. 'I walked until I cried,' he said. 'I walked until I couldn't anymore.' The group stayed in the school until the storm subsided the next day.
Local police, who witnessed Withey's actions on surveillance cameras, called him heroic and thanked him on Twitter. The Cheektowaga Police Department posted on Facebook: 'The selflessness that people showed to help others during the storm is what WNY is really made of.' Withey expressed gratitude but also guilt: 'I'm terribly sorry about breaking into the school. I had to do it to save everyone.'
