AU senior Maurice Knight has always been known on campus as a hero on the court, but he recently became much more than that.
On Aug. 4, Knight and his friend Jake Richwine were the first on the scene of a serious two-car accident in Elwood. On their way home from doing yard work, Knight and Richwine noticed two cars in a field just off of County Roads 900 North and 750 West.
“We saw two cars in a field that looked like they had wrecked,” Knight said. “I told Jake to pull over so we could go check it out and see if anyone was there. We decided to help because we felt like God put us in that position for a reason. If we were in a bad accident we would want someone to help us if they could.”
The accident put the two drivers in critical condition. It was the efforts of Knight and Richwine that helped keep the men stable until first responders could get to the scene.
“The whole time the only thing going through our heads was that we need to keep these two men as calm as possible,” Knight said. “We were thinking we needed to do everything we could to keep them alive.”
After a few minutes, emergency services arrived on the scene, thanks to a 911 call from Knight and Richwine.
“When first responders showed up, we let them know everything that we knew at the time,” Knight added. “All we really knew was that two people were in a wreck and they were in bad condition. We continued to help as much as we could until more responders got there.”
The two local heroes were recognized with awards by the Elwood Police Department following their heroic acts.
The two men in the accident were life-lined following the accident and are still in critical condition, Knight noted.
The HCAC’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year and leading scorer for the Ravens last season said he did what he knew was the right thing to do. His actions did not go unnoticed, as two men might just owe their lives to Knight and Richwine.