Iraq War Veteran with PTSD Saves Life of Traffic Accident Victim

Buffalo News (New York)

Traumatized Marine ignores doctor’s orders to save injured motorcyclist

May 2, 2008, Buffalo, New York – Others drove past the injured motorcyclist, who lay bleeding to death on the side of Niagara Falls Boulevard in Amherst on a Monday afternoon last month.

But Jeremy Lepsch, a disabled combat veteran, stopped. He got out of his car and dodged traffic to get to the injured man and place a lifesaving tourniquet on his mangled left leg. Lepsch also realized he had been given a chance to complete some unfinished business he’d left behind in Iraq.

“I remember him saying, ‘I think it’s going to be OK. I’m a U. S. Marine. I’ve seen action,’ ” Jeffrey Wojcik recalled Thursday. “I’m lying there dying, and I felt a calmness come over me. I knew I was in good hands.”

The injured man lost his leg, but medical personnel credited Lepsch with saving his life.

That experience now has Lepsch thinking he may win his own battle with post-traumatic stress. After that, the doctor suggested  to file a case by contacting with the accident injury attorney, by visiting the link here. An accident injury attorney helps you to file a case against the faultier and help you to get insurance amount. You can visit website for more about the car accident attorney.

Jason Stone Injury Lawyers Boston helps you get monetary compensation for injuries that you have suffered due to the fault of others. You will not realize the importance of a good personal injury lawyer unless you have actually been injured and find yourself unable to do your job with the level of skill that is required. You may not get your skill back ever or at least for quite some time, but the lawyers will certainly ensure that you are financially comfortable thanks to a good settlement.

If you have been cited for a traffic violation like reckless driving, driving under the influence, leaving the place of an accident, illegal u-turns, or a driving over the speed limit, you will probably need the help of a traffic lawyer. You can visit https://richardharrislaw.com/ for more information.

Whether it is a minor traffic violation like driving over speed limit or a more serious traffic violation like reckless driving, they can have an enormous negative impact on your life. Starting from having points deducted from driver licenses, which will drastically increase your insurance rates, to having your driving privileges suspended, a traffic lawyer will more than likely help you avoid all the headaches. Click this link if you want to get more about the Traffic Violation Defense Attorney.

So, if you decide to fight a traffic ticket, your lawyer will do all the work for you. This will entail gathering all the information, requesting the discovery from the prosecutor, researching all the legal issues and determining which defense will work best for you, interviewing witnesses and working with the law enforcement and court officials. And all these with the goal of getting your traffic ticket dismissed or get all the charges against you dismissed, if you are charged with a major traffic violation.

Anyone who gets a traffic citation knows that there will be a fine of a particular amount levied when they receive the traffic ticket. In addition to the fine that is incurred, there are some expenses that you may not consider and some other issues that may not occur to you at the time of getting the traffic citation. By example, insurance rates, both for automobile coverage and life, can increase and that increase can affect you for some time to come.

This is especially true if you or someone you know has gotten a traffic ticket for the same violation previously, but were charged a different amount for the court costs. Although it IS unjust, this usually happens because of the powers of discretion allotted to judges. Fortunately, there is a limit to the amount that even the most stringent judge can order. You can find this more information about LONG ISLAND LAWYER WORKING TIRELESSLY TO HELP CLIENTS AVOID TRAFFIC TICKET PENALTIES.

Then there is the fact that any traffic ticket for which you are found guilty will remain on your driving record permanently. Even for those who are aware of these ancillary expenses, many times people don’t include court costs when tallying up the expenses they will face due to traffic tickets. Often the purpose of court costs is not very well understood. They are fees that are charged for the administrative expenses related to your traffic ticket.

Drivers who are found guilty of traffic offenses have to bear the court system’s “cost of doing business,” and unfortunately, so do those drivers who just pay their ticket because they don’t want to have to deal with the frustration that can occur when fighting a traffic ticket.

These fees go into the state’s general fund and are used to support a large amount of the court’s budget. It can be quite surprising to an unsuspecting driver to learn that court costs can be much higher than the fine associated with the traffic citation. To add to the frustration of getting the traffic ticket alone, these fees seem unjust.

It is very clear that you need to get the best settlement possible for the injury you have received and the inconvenience you have been put through. Do not expect the party that caused the accident to voluntarily offer you a large sum of money. This is where a good team of injury lawyers come in. They should have the ability to extract the largest settlement possible from the party who caused you harm, knowingly or unknowingly.

You have to select your personal injury lawyer with a great deal of care because the outcome of the case depends upon this, in addition to other factors. There are many BC injury lawyers, but you should not be satisfied with a run of the mill team of lawyers but should look for one with a proven track record. Hiring a legal firm that has plenty of experience handling the kind of injuries you have suffered from is a good way to start.

It is also a very good idea to hire a personal injury lawyer who is known in legal circles for his or her ability to prepare each case thoroughly as though it will go to trial. It is preferable to get a legal firm that is well known for this ability on your side so that the opposition will be convinced that you have a good chance of winning. In fact, this is one of the best ways to ensure that your opposition gives you a good settlement without even fighting the case.

One of the top officials in the Department of Homeland Security came to Buffalo on Thursday, in part to honor Lepsch, 24, for his heroism April 7.

Wojcik is a federal border officer, and hundreds of his fellow Customs & Border Protection officers were present for the ceremony Thursday in Kleinhans Music Hall.

The recent events were a long way from the agonizing week in 2004 that Lepsch spent in Iraq, waiting to complete his medical evacuation to Germany for treatment of illnesses he had come down with while serving with an anti-terrorism unit in east Africa.

Casualties from roadside bombs and other combat flowed into the two Iraq medical facilities in which Lepsch was placed temporarily. He felt helpless as he watched severely burned soldiers, others with missing limbs and even the bodies of those who had made the ultimate sacrifice pass through these triage centers.

If that wasn’t enough, enemy fire forced the wounded to head for bunkers. Lepsch eventually made it out of Iraq, but with the added burden of the horrors he had seen.

Since then, he has struggled with flashbacks and intrusive thoughts, severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress, making it difficult for him to move on with his life.

But he would like to.

He and his mother, Cheryl Lepsch, have been waging a long battle with the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs to get him admitted to a long-term residential post-traumatic stress treatment program.

In the meantime, Lepsch, who expects to soon be discharged with a military medical retirement from the Marines, has received dozens of prescription medications — enough to fill the kitchen cupboard of his modest North Tonawanda apartment — from the VA and has been advised to avoid stressful situations, such as motor vehicle accidents, because they can trigger the symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

Wojcik, 38, says he is grateful Lepsch ignored that advice last month.

As he lay bleeding, watching vehicles pass him, Wojcik, also of North Tonawanda, recalled that the driver of the car he collided with stepped from her vehicle and demanded to know how fast he had been driving his motorcycle.

Utility workers nearby tried to calm him. Then Lepsch, who was several vehicles behind the crash scene, arrived and began to perform first aid.

Lepsch said he fought back thoughts of, “Oh no, this isn’t happening,” and realized he had a chance to be of use to another human being in dire need of medical assistance — unlike in Iraq.

One of the utility workers handed Lepsch a belt that he began to tighten around Wojcik’s leg to stop the bleeding, but the belt snapped.

“I was wearing my New York Yankees jersey, and I was going to take it off and use that when Jeff said he was wearing a heavy leather belt,” recalled Lepsch, who looked at Wojcik after Thursday’s ceremony and added, “So, you saved your own life, Jeff.”

When the paramedics arrived and Wojcik was taken away, Lepsch quietly left the crash scene.

For days after that, his mother said, “Jeremy had nightmares that his own legs had been cut off.” Eventually, Lepsch and his mother visited Wojcik in Erie County Medical Center.

They have become close friends and call each other “brothers in arms.”

And on Thursday, that could not have been clearer. Wojcik, seated beside Lepsch, again called him a brother. Lepsch responded by leaning his head toward the shoulder of the man he had saved and said, “We both have a shoulder to lean on now.”

Resting in Lepsch’s lap was the Humanitarian Award, a plaque that he received from Customs & Border Protection Commissioner Ralph Basham, who praised the young man for his courage while other motorists had driven by.

“At a time when this country is so litigious and everyone is so concerned about being sued . . . Jeremy took that risk. He decided to act,” Basham said.

The overwhelming gratitude Lepsch experienced at the ceremony, he said, now has him thinking that maybe life is starting to turn around for him.

lmichel@buffnews.com

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