By Ramon Antonio Vargas
The Advocate
BATON ROUGE, La. — St. John the Baptist Parish firefighter Nick Saale, who was badly injured in the deadly Interstate 10 bus crash in LaPlace on Aug. 28, is out of the hospital, officials said Thursday.
He spent nine days at University Medical Center in New Orleans before his release Tuesday, parish spokeswoman Baileigh Rebowe said.
Saale, 32, had joined two other firefighters at the scene of a minor crash in the westbound lanes of Interstate 10 near the Belle Terre Boulevard exit on the morning of the fatal wreck.
While they were at the scene, a speeding bus filled with laborers seeking work in flood-ravaged Baton Rouge first slammed into a fire truck stopped on the highway and then barreled into other vehicles. The collision threw Saale, Fire District Chief Spencer Chauvin and firefighter Mack Beal over a guardrail and into swampy waters some 40 feet below.
Chauvin, a 36-year-old father of two, died after being pulled out of the water. Beal, 35, was treated at River Parishes Hospital for injuries to his shoulder and leg and was released later that day.
Saale had a broken leg, broken ribs and fluid in his lungs, Rebowe said. He spent at least one day on a breathing machine, the chief of operations for St. John’s Fire Services said.
Saale will need between four and six weeks more of recovery before he returns to duty, Rebowe said.
The pileup also killed Jermaine Starr, 21, and Vontarous Kelly, 33, who were passengers in one of the other cars hit by the bus.
Starr and Kelly were from Moss Point, Mississippi, and also reportedly were going to Baton Rouge to work for a contractor. Starr died at the scene. Kelly died four days later.
The crash left more than two dozen other people injured.
The bus driver, who was living in the United States illegally and did not have a driver’s license, was jailed on counts of negligent homicide and negligent injuring, among other violations.
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