A Canonsburg man was among those injured when a man drove a truck around a police blockade and into a crowd of revelers during New Year’s celebrations in New Orleans.
A family member said Jeremi Sensky, 51, was in surgery Wednesday night after being hurt in what authorities termed a terrorist attack by an Army veteran early Wednesday.
Sensky, who has used a wheelchair since 1999, appears to have been returning to his hotel after enjoying pizza with friends, his daughter, Heaven Sensky Kirsch, also of Canonsburg, told TribLive.
When he didn’t return as scheduled, his family quickly grew worried, Kirsch said.
“We started to search for him,” she said.
The family grew frantic after Sensky didn’t respond to phone calls.
“We thought he was likely dead for hours because he wasn’t picking up his phone,” Kirsch said.
She said she rushed with her mother to the closest trauma unit and sat in the waiting room, hoping to get some information on her father.
“We prayed he was there and alive,” Kirsch said.
Nurses told the family that there was a paralyzed man at the hospital who was alive, and it turned out to be her father, she said.
Both of his legs were broken when he was struck by the pickup, she said.
“He laid there a while after a police officer marked him ‘alive’ on his forehead,” Kirsch said.
“They told him they’d be back for him because there were (others with) worse injuries. My dad told me shots were being fired over him,” she said.
She was able to speak with her father before he went into surgery Wednesday night at University Medical Center New Orleans.
“I am frightened and anxious,” Kirsch said.
Her father is expected to survive his injuries, she said.
“By the grace of God, he is alive,” she said. “I want people to know my dad is alive, full of life, is resilient and he lives vibrantly, and I’m sure he’ll continue to.”