'Mike lost his leg': Anger, sadness after injured motorcyclist left in ditch near Edmonton

A group of strangers brought together by a horrific crash on the outskirts of Edmonton is struggling to feel great about the state of humanity after a hit-and-run left a motorcyclist alone and severely injured in a ditch.

On Monday morning, just before 7 a.m., Mike Kemp was riding his motorcycle to work on Highway 44 at the Highway 16 overpass when there was a collision with a driver in a pickup.

“I was kinda too far to see what happened initially. All I could tell is there was something going on, so I just kinda slowed down,” Andrew Spring recalled to CTV News Edmonton.

What Spring saw when he got closer left the Westlock volunteer firefighter "absolutely terrified."

“I saw Mike in the ditch, saw the bike on the road…I knew right away that was not a good sign,” Spring said.

“Mike lost his leg in the impact…It’s really hard to stop bleeding from something like that.”

The other driver was nowhere to be found.

Spring retrieved a ratchet strap from his truck to wrap around Kemp's thigh as a makeshift tourniquet. He said it felt like forever for the ambulance to arrive. Spring has some advanced first aid training, but said no amount of education can completely prepare a person for that.

“You try to make sure he knows he’s not alone and try to make him as comfortable as possible and just keep a close eye on him," Spring said.

Joanne Coxe was also in the ditch trying to slow Kemp's bleeding.

“I don’t wish to think about what could have happened. I’m just glad we all happened to be there at the right time,” Cox said.

Brandon Fenwick also helped. He recalls seeing a truck with front-end damage driving away. He initially thought that driver hit a deer.

“At the end of the day, nothing else really matters to me except the fact that (Mike is) doing OK. So I’m just glad that what I did helped him,” he said.

Fenwick has been on a motorcycle before.

“It's a lot more dangerous (than a car). Give them their space…Lots of people don’t seem to care,” he said.

CHARGES LAID

A 21-year-old man from Spruce Grove turned himself in to RCMP, Mounties announced Wednesday. The driver was charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle and failing to remain on scene after an injury.

He has been released and is next set to appear in court in Stony Plain on June 29.

Mounties said the people who stopped helped save Kemp's life.

All three of them are upset, not only at the driver who fled, but also frustrated with others who they say just cruised by like nothing happened.

“There were a lot of vehicles that didn’t stop and were driving right through the scene. There was one trucker, a semi, that honked his horn cause the ambulance wasn’t moving,” Cox said.

They could have used more help to slow traffic, Spring said. He is also not very happy with the lack of patience from people driving by.

“All the people that showed up to the scene, they stepped up in a big way…It’s a whole chain of survival for him that if any of those things hadn’t lined up, we could be having a very different conversation," he said.

'LEFT MY FRIEND IN THE DITCH TO DIE'

Justin Hendriks met Kemp on a jobsite about 10 years ago.

“I immediately didn’t like him 'cause he had the toolbox I wanted," he said with a smile, "but after about a week of hatred we became best friends."

While family and friends now rally around the injured man, Hendriks has started a GoFundMe to help Kemp through.

“Mike’s probably easily one of the most honest, compassionate people you’ll ever meet,” he said of Kemp, who doesn't have kids but loves his big dog with all his heart.

Kemp is still unconscious and in "really bad shape," an emotional Hendriks said. He's also at a loss to understand why anyone would have left Kemp there.

“Stick around. Help the guy. Don’t leave him. I think it’s great that he turned himself in, but he never should have left in the first place. He left my friend in the ditch to die. You don’t do that," Hendriks said.

Spring is also struggling to understand that decision and he feels the incident should be a wake-up call for others.

“Not my place to pass judgement, but actions have consequences. I may not know all the facts but somebody made a mistake, somebody caused an accident, and somebody left the person that was hurt for dead. And I don’t think that should sit well with anybody,” he said.

As for the people who did stop, Fenwick said a barbeque is being planned for when Kemp recovers. The injured man's father called Fenwick personally to thank him for helping his son.

RCMP said Kemp remained in hospital in serious condition on Wednesday.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jessica Robb