Miracle on Lincoln Street

A Tullahoma woman's life is forever changed when a driver under the influence of Methamphetamine slams into her vehicle.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

I'm Christian Montoya and I am retired Navy veteran and I currently volunteer at at an African ministry, mission ministry.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

And my name is William Montoya. I'm also a retired Navy uh veteran, uh 23 years, and um been doing a lot of things since I got out in 2012, but uh right now I currently and have been working for the last 10 years on and off with the um Arnold Air Force Base.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Oh, that's awesome. So first of all, thank y'all for your service. That's quite amazing uh having a military family like it. How long y'all been married?

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Next year we'll be 30.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

30 years.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Yeah, almost.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Okay, we gotta stop everything and ask what's the secret.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Forgiveness. Forgive. Quick to forgive.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Wow. See you don't hear about it nowadays. Uh marriages actually lasting uh a long time. It starts to get a little bit rough, a little heavy, and people just want to go ahead and go for the divorce, which sometimes, you know, it might be needed if you got any type of abuse going on, stuff like that. But uh seems like people want to rush to that divorce date because they're no longer feeling it or things like that. So 30 years marriage is pretty amazing. We've had some heavy years, but oh yeah, definitely. Of course. And what we're talking about today had to be a struggle, um probably an amazing struggle. And so that's what we're gonna get into. Christian, tell me a little bit about your uh background as far as you know, where where you were raised, where you're born, stuff like that, just a little real quick.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Born in Cape May, New Jersey, raised in upstate New York near Lake Ontario, and I grew up learning to sail across Lake Ontario to Canada. And so that's where that French comes in there, and joined the Navy after uh uh an attempt at being a midshipman at the Merchant Marine Academy, but I figured I didn't want to pay $30,000 a year to be treated like a boot camper.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

So uh don't blame you.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

So I ended up enlisting, and it was the best decision I ever made. That was really kind of the first decision that I really felt like I made for myself, and it was gonna be whatever I put into it.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

And sir, tell us a little bit about your background, a little bit of your past.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

So, yeah, I was born and raised in uh Southern California, a place called uh San Gabriel, San Gabriel Valley. Um lived there a large part of my life. Um my dad passed when I was 11, so um, but we were generally moving in that in that same area down there, and uh uh my mom moved us to a better neighborhood and grew up in a really nice middle class place called Glendora, and where I played in rock bands and did a lot of that good stuff as a drummer or musician. Played in heavy metal bands in Hollywood, in the rock and roll and playing that, and then um when I graduated from high school, I decided I wanted to go to automotive trade school, so I went to Arizona for a year to go to Arizona Automotive Trade Institute there and got my um my degree or whatever you want to call it, uh my certificate from them, and went back and worked in the car field for a couple of years and then went back to construction. When I got about 23, I decided I need to do something bigger and better, and I decided to join the Navy and uh did that in '89.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

So y'all ended up meet uh meeting in 1994. 96. 96, I'm sorry, 1996. Bit in the Navy. How long did y'all date before you realized, okay, this is gonna this is what we want to do? I think it's about a year.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Yeah, I would say that's fair, a year.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Yeah. And where'd y'all get married?

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Nevada.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Nevada.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

We had like uh yeah, Bullhead City, Arizona is technically it. Um we played with the idea of going to Vegas and getting married by Elvis, but Elvis was like 300 bucks, and we had 500 for the whole thing. So we went to Laughlin and uh did a weekend there and got married.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Pastor picked us up in a limo and drove us across the border. Wow. Got married in Bullhead City.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

We have three adult kids. Um we have Aaron and Matthias and Jordan, and they're all completely different. Um uh my oldest works with your wife at Enable Comp. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. And so they knew each other when this accident happened and they kind of talked to each other while this was going on.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

I didn't even I didn't know that. That boy, small world. Small world. Uh in in your other ones.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Um Matthias is an advanced EMT and he is also in the Air National Guard. He just finished his degree and is gonna put in an officer package, and he's been in the Tennessee, he was in Tennessee National Guard during COVID, so he was one of those that was going around and doing the testing and the shooting shots.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

You've been married for two years now, too.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Yeah, his wife, Brianna, is absolutely adorable.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

And the youngest?

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Youngest is uh now 22, and she is a dog groomer here in town in Tullahoma at absolute perfection, and she absolutely would love to work with nothing but dogs.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

And that's Jordan, a family full of uh servers, EMT and Navy and all that.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

We're all thusbians too.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Yeah, a lot of acting and fun. We like to laugh. Yes and love to act, and uh my oldest daughter and son can sing just as well and play just as well. Um my youngest daughter and I should be behind the computer.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

The uh let's uh get a little bit led up now. You but when the accident occurred, when what were you doing? Were you retired during that time period?

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Or I actually uh was working for I was the director of Access Hope, which is a suicide and crisis hotline here in the local area. And it is the parent organization is the Family Counseling Center of Middle Tennessee, which is based in Manchester. And my office was here in Tullahoma at the Henry Center, and I was on my way from there to a meeting with my boss and heading down Lincoln Street, just a straight shot, and that's the last thing I remember.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

We'll get into that here in just a little bit because uh kind of I want to go through kind of all of this. So you were working, you were going.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Where were you when this I was at the house?

SPEAKER_01 6:52

I had a police officer come up to the door and inform me what was going on.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Let's go to that morning. We'll go ahead and jump right into it. Um you were getting you were getting ready to go to a meeting. A meeting, and you were heading down Lincoln Street. Before we go any further, do you ever pass that way, go down that way, and have any recollections?

SPEAKER_00 7:19

No, I still don't remember the accident at all, except for what I've been told. And I don't have any problem driving, no. Now, because I was told it was a red ram pickup truck pulling a tractor. I, you know, I see ram trucks and I'm like, not gonna ever get one of those. Yeah. But that's really um, I love to drive. In fact, one of the things I do now is I take folks from my church to medical appointments in Nashville because I don't like to drive in Nashville. And I grew up driving in this city, so it doesn't bother me a bit.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

So when you go by that area, you don't I don't I know it was kind of near um was it the Wesley Heights Church?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

And I'm like, oh well the angels must have been sitting right there. So thanks to that congregation for being faithful and having those angels of protection because I shouldn't have walked away from that.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yeah. You're you head out, tell get us to the point to where you leave your house, to the point to where you remember the last thing you remember.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Uh just going in to work. Um the office is no longer at the Henry Center, which is why I can tell you that it was at the Henry Center, because uh usually a crisis hotline location is kept confidential for good reasons, for safety reasons. But at that point, uh my office was in the Henry Center, and just going in, got my volunteers that answer the phones, working on my plan for fundraising and what I had going for the meeting with uh that weekly meeting with my boss and just locked up, said, I'll be back, got in my car and headed down. I remember going through the light at Jackson and Lincoln, and I know I was headed toward Manchester. And and I don't remember seeing the other vehicle coming. I don't remember being hit. Um I remember the first thing I remember was actually you and because you were the one that came up to the car, I think.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

And oh you do remember that.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

I do. I remember I don't remember exactly what you said, but it was something to like, hey, hang on, we're gonna get you out of here. And um I don't know if you put a jacket over me, somebody did. And I think I said something like, Well, I'll be right here.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

You just gave my testimony, and that's why uh whenever you mention that you like to laugh and everything, yeah, that is uh obvious because you were making light out of a situation that I'll go ahead and do my part. Whenever I saw you, I I I was the officer that I was the officer that worked the whole wreck. And whenever I saw you from a distance, I didn't think you were dead, I knew you were dead.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

I remember you telling me, and that still gives me chills.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

I I hate, you know, I I don't I don't want to, you know, scare you or anything. I just want you to understand I've worked so many of these wrecks that were fatalities and uh serious accidents. Uh there was no doubt in my mind this was a fatal wreck. And when I walked up to you, I said something, I don't remember if it was. I don't think it was to me or I don't know. I think it was to you, but it was just to check, just to satisfy, okay, I'm going to check that box. Yeah. And when you actually responded back to me, it was like seeing a ghost. I I I I sat back, I I to I took a step back. How am I having a convers? How's this for first of all? How is she even alive? Second, how is she even conscious enough to talk to me right now?

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Yeah, I just I don't think I realized what had happened, or maybe that I realized, okay, there's been an accident, so hold tight and right. Um I was medical in the military, and mass casualty was part of my training, so I'm generally not a panicky person.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

And but I think that was nobody that would give you any negativity if this was a time that you needed to be panicky or nervous. And I but you were extremely you were extremely like like we are sitting right now.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

That's exactly how I was feeling. Like, okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

For everybody watching and listening, I want people to understand this vehicle. What what kind of vehicle was it?

SPEAKER_00 12:15

It was a Chrysler minivan.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

It was uh dark gray, if I remember, or black. Black, okay, black. Um this thing was chewed up like it just went through one of the CFC uh machines, and your little face was just peeking out right there. You had to be cut out. Do you remember how long it took you to be cut out by the fire department?

SPEAKER_00 12:39

I know um you you or someone put a jacket over me so that the glass wouldn't hit me when they they said we're gonna cut you out. And I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

That would be our fire department. We have one, we have one of the best fire departments in the world. That would be them.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

I met Tom and got the chance to to thank him too.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Yeah. He uh, yeah, we we've got an excellent, excellent fire department here. But I remember, and I'll just go ahead and read it reiterate you, as I was walking away from you. I don't remember if I said uh nobody's gonna leave you or I'll be right back or something like that. That's when you said I'll be right here.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

And that's totally what I would do is make a joke.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

I think that is the part of the story that amazes me the most. The fact, besides the fact that you're dead, okay, the fact that you're joking now. You're you're making like I'll be right here. You're having to get cut out of this mess mess that took forever. You're bleeding and you're completely stuck, and you're sitting here telling me I'll be right here. I'm supposed to be the one comforting you in this moment.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

Oh, you did. You did. You were sweet.

SPEAKER_02 14:01

Yeah, I did a great job.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

You were you were awesome.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

I'm I'm the one sitting there like, you know. So anyway, you get cut out. Can you do can you go through telling me how this worked? About the do you remember getting cut out?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

I remember hearing the the glass shatter and feeling like a little vibration. Uh, you know, it's kind of in and out. I remember bits and pieces. And I remember um when the EMTs were I think it was the EMTs unloading me, and uh there was a female EMT. Um, I don't I still don't know her name, but she was amazing, and she was holding my arm. I had an open uh my elbow was shattered and it had an open fracture um in my arm. Um and she was holding it, and I think she was more worried than I was at the time. I really I had a piece the entire time, and I was fully confident in everybody being able to do their jobs, and everybody was just so professional and amazing, and um very, very, very grateful. Um, I remember I know I was taken to Harton, but I don't remember what happened or any of the exams there. I remember being put in an ambulance taken to Vanderbilt trauma, but I don't remember the trip. Um, and then I remember being in the hallway at Vanderbilt, and one of the doctors was uh stitching up and pulling glass out of my head and stitches over my eye. Um learned after the fact that I had uh two orbital fractures. I have an implant under my eye now. Um they had to reconstruct my elbow. I had pins and screws. Um, and then I had this really heavy cast from shoulder to wrist for a while, and then I had this really cool, like I thought I looked like a transformer. That's one of the pictures I sent you. I had this really, really pretty blue brace that I had on for a while and a couple surgeries, well, three surgeries to fix that up. And I remember the the trauma surgeon at Vanderbilt saying that he got to use my case at a conference as an example of a difficult case. Like, well, you're welcome. Glad help.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Well, we've also used you at the police department. Yeah. Uh because, you know, one thing that offers, first of all, our officers are great. They will do any job that comes to them. But if you was to sit down and have a non-public talk with them, a lot of them will tell you they hate doing DUI investigations. They're so long. Well, they're so long, they're so complicated, and I mean, it's just so much that you have to do during these investigations that they would rather just take an all-day beating than have to do a lot of the paperwork and stuff that's involved in DUIs. Now they'll do them and they'll do them great. Absolutely outstanding. But they'd rather not they they are miserable a lot of the times while they're doing that. So I like to bring you on just so people can see, you know, the impact of yeah totally worth it. Keep doing, you know, keep doing what you so we definitely use you for that. So you were you were flown, you were driven to Nashville.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

And how long were you in the hospital?

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Just a couple of days. Um I know I was in the trauma ICU, and I rem uh remember waking up at one point and seeing my mother and sisters who had come in, and I'm like, how come they're here? You know, it was just like, well, that's odd. They they don't usually come all this way.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Is there are you are you not realizing the impact right now or the I I was not.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

I still had no idea the severity of what had happened. Um I hadn't taught spoken with you yet, and most of the details I know are from what you have told me and what my family has told me. I ri I still do not I just remember those little bits and pieces along the way, but I don't remember the impact. I don't remember seeing them coming. Um and so I was like, okay, you know, I've been in an accident. Let's, you know, okay, we've got to call the insurance, we you know, making the list in my head of all the things that need to get done. And I didn't I really did not realize how serious it was.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

I don't think you realize how strong you are. We we deal with less, much, much less all the time, and people freak out. And so I guess you know, again, that probably what makes it a little special is if you know your attitude towards it. Let's go to you. And uh so the the crash about how long about how long was it after the crash occurred that you were notified?

SPEAKER_01 19:19

I would say it was within probably about an hour, maybe an hour and a half.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

I know my meeting was at twelve, so I'm not exactly sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

I just remember the officer walking up and I'm like, Do you remember who the officer was? No, okay. But big dude. Big, I was looking up at him. But I thought I had to do something else because of something that happened the other day, and I opened the door and he informed me that uh she was in an accident and that uh she's cut, you know, she's conscious. Um I think at that time they had already had her at Harden and said they were gonna move her to Vanderbilt. I can't quite remember. But um, so I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

I think they told you that they were gonna lifelight me.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Yeah. Either life flight me or and you ended up going in an ambulance. So being a man of faith, I threw it straight up to God and like I have no control over any of this.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Was the officer able to tell you how bad it was, or did he just give me a whole lot of detail.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

He just told me that she had been hardened and they're gonna transfer her, but she was alert um and uh stable.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

When did you first learn how serious this was?

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Really not until I got to the hospital.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

And would you get did you get telehomer in Nashville?

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Nashville.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Yeah, no. So like I said, I threw it upstairs and just start praying. Praying for all the technicians or doctors or nurses, everybody that's involved.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

Who was the first person to talk to you up in Nashville? Was it the doctor?

SPEAKER_01 20:54

I think it was the nurse. And what did she tell you? Um basically what was going on with her. Um we had I had waited because so being in the Navy and being Navy medicine for 23 years and being on a rig myself, um, I was trained EMT on a rig for myself when I was in Camp Pendleton. And uh I know how everything works. And we weren't gonna see her anytime soon. And I knew all that. So I gathered the kids, let them know what was going on, and then we went up together. Um not immediately because it just I knew she was gonna be in surgery, I knew this, that, and we'd just be sitting there waiting around. So um we went in a convenient time the next morning, and uh that's when we got to see her for the first time.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

When did you see the vehicle?

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Uh I want to say two days later.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

It was already at the the towing.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Yeah, it's right off the 55, one of the towing places there, agent. Sergeants. Yeah, sergeants, maybe. What was your reaction?

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Action to see in the vehicle.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Well, when you first pull up to it, you see one side and it looks just normal. And you look at the other side and it does not look normal at all. It's just totally crushed. And I was just there's, of course, all the bags had deployed, and and um we were just looking through it. We couldn't get, we could barely get into the car to get anything. We, you know, we were grabbing registrations and I think I grabbed I forgot to grab the plate. That's what I forgot to grab. Um and me and Jordan had gone, our youngest, and uh I just this is some kind of miracle.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Yeah, my quota was not full.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Yeah, not done yet. What was your reaction when you first saw the car?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Like, ooh.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Yeah, we couldn't.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Yeah, it didn't seem real. It didn't seem real.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

When when you first was able to see her in the hospital, what was the conversation like? I'm assuming she was conscious when you first got to see her.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

You know, just soaking in that she's there and you know, taking a look. I'm looking and I'm like, oh wow. When you first saw her, it was troubling.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Yeah. There there were some tears. And you know, I think, okay, I have a broken arm. And you know, yeah, that was the one.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

That was I know I had some glass. And um, you know, they just talked about her orbitals and and all that other good stuff. And um she was pretty beat up.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

So the orbital orbital fracture, yeah, the cut on the head there. Yeah, uh your glass in there, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Uh open, yeah, open. What else? Uh shattered. That was it. My legs weren't broken.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

I figured she'd have her femur would have broke, you know.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

It was like the car wrapped around me. I've never seen anything like that in any accident that I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_02 24:13

I'm at all. I mean, I'm normally not speechless, but it just kind of hearing how y'all go how y'all went through this is pretty i it is I'm just you know kind of in awe of how y'all handle it.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

The piece of God was everywhere. I that's yeah that was instantaneous, like when she was talking about it.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Yeah, definitely had to be a God thing.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Because he doesn't let anything happen without him allowing it to happen.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

What is uh when when was it that you were first informed? And you know, we you know, the program we gonna, you know, I'm not gonna mention any names. Okay. Um when is it that you were first informed that the person that hit you was under the influence of myth?

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Um I it's probably when I came in to give you I don't know if it was a statement it was when I came in and talked to you um about the case to get my impact statement, maybe. Um and you told me about that uh person and that he had had an open container of beer in the car, and he admitted to doing a hit of meth before driving.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Do you remember what the cause of the accident was determined?

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Um I know that he had crossed the center line and basically ran over my car, and I think hit me so hard that it was like a quarter mile away. Like his the cars were a quarter mile apart at when they stopped.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

And the truck you said was carrying a he was pulling a tractor. Like what kind of like I think a John Deere. A John Deere all that we're fireing tractor. So all that weight with the speed, because uh it's 30 mile per hour through there, I believe, the speed limit, but that's yeah, yeah, that part's still yeah, still 30.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Yeah, it's before you get to the 45.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

But still, even even if he was going the speed limit, which I don't remember what was determined, but I don't know that.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Yeah, but crossing over the line, hitting you it yeah, full on. Um it I remember that it didn't look like he appeared to stop.

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Did you ever get an opportunity to see him?

SPEAKER_00 26:45

No. No, I um was asked if I wanted to go to the court proceedings and I did not.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

Why was that?

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Um I didn't see the benefit. Um the only thing I had hoped for was an apology. I would have been fine. Um, but to date, I have not heard anything. I don't know if he was sorry. Um, I know that he has now been released. Um and I hope that this was an impetus for change for him, and that he runs as far as he can from ever wanting to be under the influence again.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

How long ago was the rig till the time he was being released, or do you know that?

SPEAKER_00 27:41

I don't. I um every year on the anniversary, it kind of is a heavier day.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

23rd of February.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

And so I am so grateful that and I know what could have happened and what I could have missed, and I am so grateful. My youngest daughter was graduating that year. I got to see her graduation. Graduating from where high school. Um, and so uh, and then my son getting married, and uh my oldest is engaged, and I would have missed all those things. Milestone birthdays and my family. And so ever since that accident, I have not taken life for granted. I have taken my bucket list and I am checking stuff off. I have traveled to Paris and Africa, and um I uh was cast in South Jackson Goes Country. I wanted to do that one year.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

And you've got to get me a picture of that.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Okay, okay. Now I did not sing because uh earl see earlier comment, but uh I can act and I can talk. And I was one of the dancers, and so um I got to do that. Um I'm sure there's there's more things, but um I just I don't wait for some day anymore. And I really value time with my family and friends, and I just want to be there and help anybody who needs it right now, and just I'm still here because somebody still needs me, and so I'm gonna take advantage of that.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

You you actually recognize and see, and I didn't even it didn't even hit me. If that day would have been the day, yeah, you would have missed all those things, and all those people would have missed that with you.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

What makes me emotional is the things I would have missed with my the people that I love.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Do we have any grands yet?

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Nope, not yet.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:06

Well, uh grandpuppies and kittens.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Yeah, well, hey, that counts. That counts.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

And you know, everything in their own time.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

But I remember when me and you first had a talk, one of your biggest things that you said that you love being able to do again that you never realized was putting an earring on. Can you tell me about that?

SPEAKER_00 30:26

Yeah. Um, so I still don't have full range of motion, and but I can get to my ear and I can put my hair up in a ponytail or a messy bun, which is how it normally is. But um, it took a long time uh for it, it took a couple surgeries to get that way. Um and a lot of physical therapy. Um, Andrea Turner is the bomb. She made me cry and she was sorry. But who's Andrea Turner? She was my physical therapist, and um she a super, super excellent lady. And she was very good about this is what we need to do, this is why we need to do it. And and I would try so hard not to cry. And she's like, You can cry, it's okay. Like, no, it's not.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

But that that's what you did. I'm I'm here on this scene to comfort you. I'm the one that's gonna be like, hey, they're they're right here, they're not gonna leave you not like it. You're the one that's telling me I'll be right here when you get back. So it's like the roles are being reversed. We are feeling more bad about this than you are.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

I yeah, that is true. 100% across the line.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

I remember approaching you. I remember approaching you and asking, how do you want to proceed with this case? What was your thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Are you referring to did I want to sue him?

SPEAKER_02 32:02

If you wanted any type of action to be brought against him, whether criminal or civil or both.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Okay. Um trying to remember. Um I I know I did not want to do any civil action. I didn't think that there was any benefit to that. It wasn't going to make anything better. You know, it's just in my heart to absolutely forgive him. This was I don't think he set out to do this on purpose. I think he should be held accountable for his actions. So that part is without a doubt uh what I wanted.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

But I think you were hesitant. I'll add to I'll add to this real quick because I remember when I was talking to you about moving forward with criminal charges, you were hesitant there. Do you remember that hesitancy?

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Yes, but I don't remember the whole conversation.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

Okay. Um, but I think I think when we go back, you did mention to us that he needed to be held accountable. He needed part of the jet criminal justice system is uh hopefully rehabilitation. So hopefully learn.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

I think that's what I wanted.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

I think that's what you mentioned to me. He won you wanted him to be held accountable and you wanted him to learn and not repeat. And I we can only hope that that's yeah, that's what happened.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

What I do.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

What did you want to come out of this? And I'm even going to ask you man to man, husband to husband, what was your first reaction?

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Well, again, being a man of faith, you have to forgive people for being human. Yeah. And I don't know what's gonna I don't know the man, never met him. Um, yes, I did feel that he needed to be held responsible for it. And from what I can remember, that the state, I don't know, it was maybe the county, the county was gonna do that. We didn't really have to do a whole lot. The county was just justice was gonna have its way, and they seem to be set again, set for that. And for us, that was enough.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

I've done so much wrong in my life. I've done some things that I am not proud of, and I have been forgiven. And it is only right to turn that around and give the forgiveness that I have been given.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Um, is there anything that you would like to say to this gentleman that you have you've not been able to do so? Um He may he may be watching, he may not be, I don't know. But if he is watching, we're looking at this camera right here at him, is there anything you want to tell him?

SPEAKER_00 35:06

I think most of it was covered by the letter that I wrote that I know that he read. Um and I just hope that not only does he know the impact of these choices, but that despite what happened, that he is forgiven and not to waste the chance, the second chance that he's given, to live a good life and to maybe be there for somebody else in the same situation and to counsel them not to make that choice. And if he ever wants to reach out, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

I can't sit here and say I would have the same feelings, and I hope y'all don't look down on me for that. No, oh no, or anybody, because I can imagine people screaming at their screens thinking, how can you this was a major toe financially, yeah, physically.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

You are still monthly have to be treated for my back because sometimes I can't walk. Still.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

This was completely life-changing, completely life-changing.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Um, I mean, there are things that I used to be able to do that I can't do anymore. But I look at the things that I can do.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

What is an example of some things that you can't do anymore?

SPEAKER_00 36:50

The hiking and kayaking. So two of my favorite things. I just I don't have the balance anymore, and one leg is shorter than the other now. And um sometimes because I am a go until I can't go kind of person, um, I do too much, and then my back uh kind of locks up, and then I'm on my back for a week or two. And he has to help me get dressed and get me around. He gave me a a cane for a Christmas present, and I'm like, well, this is this is the dumbest Christmas gift ever. But it's been very useful, and I've admitted to him since thank you. Um most of the time, or a good portion of the time, I'm fine and because I take those preventative actions, chiropractor visits, osteopathic manipulation, therapeutic massage, but I have to keep that up, or I can't function physically.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

And they're all of this. He's forgiven.

SPEAKER_00 38:06

Yeah. Because I still get to do a lot of things that I could have missed out on. And I have a heightened awareness and appreciation that I didn't have.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

Anything y'all would like to add to this conversation?

SPEAKER_01 38:32

Um I would just like to thank everybody that was involved.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Yes. All the first responders.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

Yeah, all the professionals.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Whenever we are driving and we pass somebody pulled over or an accident or a fire, we say a prayer every time as we're driving by. So you guys are covered.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

Well, we appreciate it and we'll take it. I mean I'm I don't have nothing. I mean, I just I'm speechless. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

You are awesome, dude. Freaking amazing. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

I appreciate it. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Tennessee remote from the Tennessee Remote.