Student helps man left with a broken back

By Chris Shaw

A JMU student turned 'Good Samaritan' as he came to the rescue of a young man who was left lying alone in the rain with a fractured spine for close to 40 minutes after falling down steps in Liverpool city centre.

Luke Johnson, a journalism student at John Moores University, was walking home from a night out in the early hours of Sunday morning when he found Bryan Hogan, who was outside St John's shopping centre.

Luke, the JMU Journalism website Sports Editor, said: "I thought it was a Guy Fawkes at first because he was so static and lying in a really weird position. But as I got closer there was a sudden realisation that something was wrong and that he needed help.

"It was frightening seeing someone in that situation, unable to move and struggling to stay conscious. You don’t expect to see someone so young like that and it isn’t nice to think about how bad it could have been.”

Mr Hogan was left lying paralysed at the bottom of the steps, unable to move or call for help, but nobody stopped to help him until Luke and his friend passed on their way.

He was treated at the scene by two ambulance crews for severe neck and back injuries and was then transported to Liverpool’s Royal Hospital to undergo further tests and treatment.

Mr Hogan’s mother later confirmed that doctors had discovered Bryan had fractured the lower part of his spine and would be immobile for an unknown, but what is expected to be long period of time.

A security guard in the city centre, Mr Hogan was also on the way home from an evening with family when he fell and landed on his back.

He said: “I was scared about not being able to move my legs. At the minute, I am just worried about my job. I don’t want to lose my job.”

Gary Coles, who was with Luke when they found Mr Hogan, said: “It was really quite scary actually. When we found him he couldn’t move anything - we were sat with him for about 20 minutes without him moving so much as a fingertip.

“I can’t believe in 40 minutes nobody stopped to help him. Someone must have passed and seen him in that time. It was right in the centre of town and there were still people about. It’s horrible to think people would see him and just walk past.”

Luke admitted that he was lucky to even find Mr Hogan in the first place: "I never would have walked that way home normally otherwise I would not have seen him."