Good Samaritan injured in horrific accident reunites with lifesaving medical team

A Long Island man involved in a horrific accident on the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge reunited with the medical team that saved his life and nursed him back to health.

Nadia Galindo

Oct 13, 2022, 9:21 PM

Updated 725 days ago

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A Long Island man involved in a horrific accident on the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge reunited with the medical team that saved his life and nursed him back to health.
Michael McCutchan was driving to work on Oct. 20, 2021 when he spotted an accident.
He pulled over and rescued a trapped driver in a badly damaged car. He was putting out cones on the roadway when he himself was struck by a commercial van.
"When I looked up, I saw the white light, I tried to jump out of the way and that was it," he said.
Rendering aid to stranded drivers or those involved in vehicle accidents is a routine thing for the retired NYPD detective-turned-New York attorney general investigator, said his son Chris McCutchan.
"He always stops for every accident ever since I was little," he said.
The accident left McCutchan underneath a vehicle, in need of immediate medical attention.
"His injuries were really life-threatening and so severe. He had a traumatic brain injury, bleeding in his brain, facial bones that were fractured, a fractured skull. More than eight broken ribs," said Dr. Kartik Prabhakaran, section chief of Trauma & Acute Care Surgery at Westchester Medical Center.
McCutchan was taken to Westchester Medical Center where he had to be given nearly his entire blood volume back through transfusion and had his leg amputated.
He spent six weeks in a medically induced coma while doctors pieced him back together.
When Michael final woke up, it was clear to medical staff they had a fighter on their hands..
"He's a strong guy. He's a strong, strong guy," said Stephanie Kennedy, nursing director at Westchester Medical Center's Trauma ICU.
Over the past year, McCutchan has undergone multiple surgeries and has had to learn to walk again with a new prosthetic leg.
"You sit and say would I do it again? I wonder if I'd do it again, and people I talk to say why even ask - you know you would do it again," he said.
His story proves superheroes truly live among us.
"He's a walking miracle," said his son Christ McCutchan.