Couple recovering from severe injuries after motorcycle crash in Pocatello

POCATELLO — A local couple is recovering after an SUV failed to yield and crashed into their motorcycle, leaving them with serious injuries.

On Monday afternoon, Jessica Southwood, 43, and her boyfriend, Chris Daniels, 41, both of Pocatello, went on a motorcycle ride to celebrate Chris’ new Suzuki bike.

“The bike was a Christmas present to Chris from his father, so they wanted to test it out,” says Jeff Zausch, Jessica’s brother. “They were riding home on East County Road that runs parallel with I-84, the interstate that goes out to American Falls.”

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The two were turning east when a 2011 Chevrolet Traverse, driven by a 59-year-old Pocatello man whose name hasn’t been released, turned south and failed to yield. The SUV hit the couple on the motorcycle and threw them both off the bike into the road.

“For whatever reason, the driver didn’t see them, or he thought he could make the turn before they came. I don’t know,” says Zausch. “I was talking to my sister (Tuesday morning) after her first surgery, and she said it happened like lightning fast.”

According to Zausch, his sister remembers being on the motorcycle one second, and in the next, they were slamming into the SUV at nearly full speed with “almost zero time to react.”

Jennifer is suffering from a compound fracture to her right leg bone and a broken right arm. All of her ribs on the left side are broken. Daniels is recovering from a broken right femur and a shattered right hip.

“They were lying in the street helpless, and Chris was trying to crawl across the road to Jessica,” says Zausch. “He was trying to crawl to her the whole time.”

A man and his construction crew on their way home from work in Aberdeen saw the crash and helped until law enforcement and EMTs arrived.

“He was with his workers when he saw the accident,” says Zausch. “They wrapped my sister in blankets, and they kept her warm because where the injuries occurred, she was losing blood. They were absolute angels. … If they didn’t arrive on the scene so quickly, who knows how things could’ve turned out?”

The driver of the Chevrolet was wearing his seatbelt and was not transported. Both Southwood and Daniels were wearing helmets and were taken to Portneuf Medical Center by ambulance.

Zausch says his family is extremely grateful to law enforcement, EMTs, and the construction crew who stopped to help.

“It is proof that, you know, good people still exist out there, and even in our worst-case scenario, on the worst day of our lives, it’s nice to believe that there will be people like (the good Samaritans) coming to our aid if we need,” says Zausch.

He said Southwood and Daniels have a long road of recovery ahead of them but feel lucky to be alive.

“If this story can possibly fall into the hands of somebody who may be able to prevent this from happening in the future, then we’re happy to share our story to encourage drivers to keep an eye out for motorcyclists that are going to start coming on the streets again in the next month or so,” says Zausch.