Brandon Martin

Erskine Senior Brandon Martin Braves Fire to Rescue Motorcyclist

Call him a reluctant hero. Brandon Martin did what came naturally to him — he said his Erskine SLA training just kicked in — and he saved a motorcyclist’s life after a fiery crash in front of Martin’s fiancée’s house in Irmo.

Many people would call Martin, an Erskine college senior, a hero for pulling the badly injured motorcyclist from the flaming wreck last month. Of course, anyone who knows the soft-spoken E.B. Kennedy and Barry Goldwater scholar knows he would do anything to help in an urgent situation.

And he would never seek any kind of recognition.

But this time someone ratted on the reluctant hero, who is also a physics major at Erskine.

His proud future mother-in-law, Georgia Metz, of Irmo, wrote to Erskine Associate Dean Penny Thomas in the Erskine Student Services office congratulating Student Services on the training they give to Student Life Assistants (SLAs).

It was this training that Martin says jump-started him into action moments after witnessing the accident.

"The training you give SLAs saved a life this weekend," Metz said in her note.

On a Saturday evening in September, Martin was outside the Metz home saying final goodbyes to his fiancée, 2001 Erskine College graduate Jennifer Metz, after visiting for the weekend. A Clemson game was on television, and Georgia Metz poked her head out the door to report the score, then went back in.

It was then that Martin and Metz heard the screeching. "We looked over and saw a motorcycle flipping and catching fire," Martin said. "It came across the road, basically straightening out the curve, and hit the passenger side of a truck."

The truck was coming the opposite way. There was another motorcycle too, but that biker somehow "seemed to just set the bike down and slide off of it," Martin said, noting that the man’s face was injured.

"The flames sprang up almost immediately," he said. And that was when Martin began walking toward the wreck.

"Jennifer went inside to call 911, and then I started out toward the road, realizing after about 10 steps just how big the fire was and how fast it was moving, and then I started running," Martin said.

"It took those first few steps for me to realize that I had been trained for something like this," Martin said. In accordance with Good Samaritan laws, Martin asked the victim, a man in his mid-twenties, whether he needed help.

"I think he was in shock," said Martin, who took both a first aid and a CPR course in preparation for his current position as Student Life Assistant in Kennedy Hall. "He said, ‘Yeah, I think I could use some help.’" Martin then grabbed the man by one arm –the other arm was bleeding– and moved him away from the flames, but not too far, in case of possible spinal injury.

The experience was intense, and Martin recalls, "The guy’s motorcycle was up in the trees. It may have had a wheel touching the ground, but it was standing up. I really did not understand how that happened."

Martin said that a few seconds after he pulled the victim away from the fire, "The motorcycle sort of popped. I think the tank had ruptured and maybe the fire hit a pocket of gas down in the tank.

"That explosion was a little frightening," he said.

Martin does not dismiss the incident, but is quick to point out, "What I did was really nothing compared to what those firefighters and rescue workers did after the terrorist attack.

"This was just dealing with a situation that occurred when I was there on the spot–those guys have dedicated their lives to rescue work."

Martin said the Irmo fire department was on the scene in about three minutes and quickly doused the fire.

"I was just glad somebody was there," Martin said. "They airlifted the guy and the last I heard he got to keep his leg, which was not an expected outcome at the scene–his leg looked as if it was broken both above and below the knee."

Martin said he took a little while to catch his breath before beginning the drive back to Erskine. "Mr. Metz had been wanting me to get on the road–he didn’t want me to be late back to school – but after this happened, he thought I needed to stay put for awhile."

Martin, who jokes that it is not unsual for him to talk to himself, said, "I think I said ‘Wow’ out loud about 10 times on my way home in the car by myself.

"And as I reflected on what had happened, I drove a little bit more slowly than usual."