WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.300


00:00:00.300 --> 00:00:25.788
(music)

00:00:25.788 --> 00:00:29.878
I had my brother in my hand and all of a sudden my hand was empty.

00:00:29.878 --> 00:00:43.002
(music)

00:00:43.002 --> 00:00:50.155
Xzavier is now 8 and we call him X. He is to us the mighty X man.

00:00:50.155 --> 00:00:57.607
Yes. X as a little person, from the time that he hit the floor in the morning

00:00:57.607 --> 00:01:02.247
until you had to forcefully almost tie him down at night,

00:01:02.247 --> 00:01:05.593
he was running back and forth, back and forth, extremely energetic.

00:01:05.593 --> 00:01:10.173
He could call football plays. He loved the Green Bay Packers.

00:01:10.173 --> 00:01:16.822
I can turn the game on and sit him in front of it and do house chores.

00:01:16.822 --> 00:01:20.063
You know most people sit their babies in front of Sesame Street.

00:01:20.063 --> 00:01:22.150
I could sit X in front of a game.

00:01:22.150 --> 00:01:25.650
(music)

00:01:25.650 --> 00:01:28.266
He would have been an excellent athlete.

00:01:28.266 --> 00:01:34.237
I was always looking forward to being in the stand screaming X, X, X, X, X.

00:01:34.237 --> 00:01:38.620
That was mom's dream, to be screaming from a football stands.

00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:46.393
(music)

00:01:46.393 --> 00:01:52.822
He's just arriving from school now. I got to have him back.

00:01:52.822 --> 00:01:57.298
I got to know how school went. I got to know today's Friday,

00:01:57.298 --> 00:02:01.905
so I need to know if he got 106 on his spelling test, which is almost always does.

00:02:01.905 --> 00:02:06.412
(music)

00:02:06.412 --> 00:02:09.658
X is paralyzed from the diaphragm down.

00:02:09.658 --> 00:02:15.997
In the accident part of his spinal cord was dissipated.

00:02:15.997 --> 00:02:28.094
His legs are gone. His chair are his legs now. The use of his right hand is partial.

00:02:28.094 --> 00:02:34.602
He woke up actually from the coma a lefty and he went in a righty.

00:02:34.602 --> 00:02:44.639
She missed his brain stem by that much. X is on life support.

00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:49.235
The ventilator has to breathe for my son.

00:02:49.235 --> 00:02:55.235
(music)

00:02:55.235 --> 00:03:00.581
Most nights, I'm here on the couch listening for the ventilator.

00:03:00.581 --> 00:03:08.367
Listening to, making sure all the breaths are right. That his PEEP doesn't change.

00:03:08.367 --> 00:03:13.862
That he doesn't need suctioning during the night. I hear everything.

00:03:13.862 --> 00:03:20.687
I hear everything. I can hear the ventilator change cycles.

00:03:20.687 --> 00:03:25.974
I could hear just the breath sounds different and run down the stairs

00:03:25.974 --> 00:03:32.676
and the nurse goes, "He's good mom, He's good. Boy, you got good ears".

00:03:32.676 --> 00:03:41.277
(music)

00:03:41.277 --> 00:03:52.280
There are times when the pain is so bad I can't breathe.

00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:57.000
I want to say the worse thing that I can say to X,

00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:01.266
which I used to be able to say all the time, "Go in the yard and play".

00:04:01.266 --> 00:04:07.159
I can't say that anymore. Because if we go play,

00:04:07.159 --> 00:04:09.707
we need to take the suction machine,

00:04:09.707 --> 00:04:12.712
we need to transfer him over to the ventilator before his chair,

00:04:12.712 --> 00:04:19.408
before we can do anything. We need to do that first. It's a production.

00:04:19.408 --> 00:04:28.904
I cant' say go play.

00:04:28.904 --> 00:04:32.086


00:04:32.086 --> 00:04:36.370
Any mother understands. I can't say go play.

00:04:36.370 --> 00:04:50.377
(music)

00:04:50.377 --> 00:04:59.927
He comes to life when she comes in the room.

00:04:59.927 --> 00:05:04.600
X doesn't remember as well as both Aurie and I do .

00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:10.639
But Aurie was walking across the street with Xzavier on that October day.

00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:16.310
Beep...Beep...Beep.. Beep.. Beep..

00:05:16.310 --> 00:05:20.317
We pray that that doesn't happen to another brother sister.

00:05:20.317 --> 00:05:23.899
We pray that another child doesn't get taken from a family member's hand.

00:05:23.899 --> 00:05:27.992
(music)

00:05:27.992 --> 00:05:34.031
She came from this direction and at first, we didn't event see her.

00:05:34.031 --> 00:05:37.692
The cars on the other side of the stop sign,

00:05:37.692 --> 00:05:43.533
they stepped off the curb coming across the street and Aurie said he was gone.

00:05:43.533 --> 00:05:48.557
She took him from Aurie's hand.

00:05:48.557 --> 00:05:52.668
(music)

00:05:52.668 --> 00:05:55.574
She was not only speeding in the school zone

00:05:55.574 --> 00:06:00.341
but she had also ran the stop sign because she was texting.

00:06:00.341 --> 00:06:07.932
The lady who hit X was texting. Texting. Her head was in her lap.

00:06:07.932 --> 00:06:11.040
She never even saw X in front of her.

00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:13.134
She actually came straight through the stop sign,

00:06:13.134 --> 00:06:18.173
there were no brake marks, no skid marks at all.

00:06:18.173 --> 00:06:21.009
She never stopped at a 4-way stop sign.

00:06:21.009 --> 00:06:27.095
She never stopped. You know, I 'm told the text was "I'm on my way".

00:06:27.095 --> 00:06:37.336
Did she make it. Did she get to where she was going on time.

00:06:37.336 --> 00:06:48.444
That would be my question for her.

00:06:48.444 --> 00:06:51.038


00:06:51.038 --> 00:07:10.485


00:07:10.485 --> 00:07:13.100
I felt like it was just a dream.

00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:21.108
(music)

00:07:21.108 --> 00:07:27.220
And for weeks it did. It felt I would wake up and I just think,

00:07:27.220 --> 00:07:30.017
did I dream that accident.

00:07:30.017 --> 00:07:34.127
(music)

00:07:34.127 --> 00:07:37.142
I'm just a guy, you know, I'm just young guy. I got a wife,

00:07:37.142 --> 00:07:39.458
you know a daughter on the way.

00:07:39.458 --> 00:07:42.776
I just a guy, this couldn't have happened to me, that can't be real.

00:07:42.776 --> 00:07:44.694
I had to have just dreamed that.

00:07:44.694 --> 00:07:55.439
(music)

00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:58.333
Memories, you know, what you saw that day.

00:07:58.333 --> 00:08:02.523
You know, they come back at different points.

00:08:02.523 --> 00:08:07.307
You know, I'll be somewhere and see an Amish family or see an Amish

00:08:07.307 --> 00:08:10.841
and it will bring back memories of the accident.

00:08:10.841 --> 00:08:20.077
(music)

00:08:20.077 --> 00:08:23.557
This was the last text message I sent before I

00:08:23.557 --> 00:08:28.262
caused an accident that killed 3 people.

00:08:28.262 --> 00:08:32.562


00:08:32.562 --> 00:08:38.461
The Amish family was on their way. 8:00 in the morning that day

00:08:38.461 --> 00:08:43.570
and then the van was driven by a young man from Bluffton, Chandler Gerber.

00:08:43.570 --> 00:08:48.082
He was on his way to a job. He cleaned carpets at the time

00:08:48.082 --> 00:08:52.340
and he was traveling about the speed limit.

00:08:52.340 --> 00:08:56.115
We determined he was not speeding or anything like that, just traveling along.

00:08:56.115 --> 00:08:59.782
And he overtook the Amish right over there, just right where my car is

00:08:59.782 --> 00:09:03.085
and basically hit the Amish buggy from behind.

00:09:03.085 --> 00:09:10.779
And just ended up all way to the point of where my car is about 400 feet,

00:09:10.779 --> 00:09:15.325
430 feet where he ended up, where the van ended up.

00:09:15.325 --> 00:09:21.340
I was heading east right into the sun rise, driving along.

00:09:21.340 --> 00:09:26.238
As I was driving. I was texting back and forth with my wife.

00:09:26.238 --> 00:09:31.302
I was texting and I think I was reading a text back at the time of the accident

00:09:31.302 --> 00:09:37.226
because I remember driving and like my head just snapped up

00:09:37.226 --> 00:09:45.548
when I saw the windshield just, glass broke and screeching and my head.

00:09:45.548 --> 00:09:48.918
It happened in about a second, I mean I had a thousand thoughts

00:09:48.918 --> 00:09:51.822
going through my mind and I start coming to a stop.

00:09:51.822 --> 00:09:58.788
I saw a body come down off the top of the van and I just thought

00:09:58.788 --> 00:10:02.878
"oh my gosh, what have I done?" "What have I done?"

00:10:02.878 --> 00:10:10.054
And I realized I hit something and then I realized it was an Amish buggy.

00:10:10.054 --> 00:10:18.514
I jumped out of the van; Totally silent outside the van.

00:10:18.514 --> 00:10:23.659
At that second in time, there was no one else coming or going.

00:10:23.659 --> 00:10:29.597
I walked around back and I looked in the ditch

00:10:29.597 --> 00:10:37.243
and there were bodies just laying there. I mean it was just silent, it was quiet.

00:10:37.243 --> 00:10:41.902
The only sound I hear was, only thing I saw moving was the horse.

00:10:41.902 --> 00:10:47.623
It was severely wounded. It was kind of moving around on the ground a little bit.

00:10:47.623 --> 00:10:53.717
I remember the mother was laying, I believe, face down on her hands

00:10:53.717 --> 00:10:58.177
and knees like she's been sitting on a chair

00:10:58.177 --> 00:11:01.607
and it's just the force just hit her she didn't have time to move,

00:11:01.607 --> 00:11:04.172
she was sitting in that same position on the ground.

00:11:04.172 --> 00:11:10.756
And I just remember just staring and no one else around except me

00:11:10.756 --> 00:11:15.168
and the family that was laying in the ditch and the horse and just silent.

00:11:15.168 --> 00:11:21.668
You have all kinds of chaos here.

00:11:21.668 --> 00:11:25.086
This is the van that was driven by Chandler Gerber.

00:11:25.086 --> 00:11:27.956
As you can see, the front of the vehicle is just totally smashed here.

00:11:27.956 --> 00:11:33.442
He was devastated. He was crying. He was just almost in a panic mode.

00:11:33.442 --> 00:11:38.065
I knew that I've been texting and driving.

00:11:38.065 --> 00:11:43.149
I knew that I've been around that time involved with

00:11:43.149 --> 00:11:46.076
reading my phone or texting or what have you.

00:11:46.076 --> 00:11:49.480
I was hysterical. I was I think I was probably in shock.

00:11:49.480 --> 00:11:52.207
I was sitting in the van in the passenger seat

00:11:52.207 --> 00:11:58.261
taking in as far as I can see straight ahead, just lights and sirens and people.

00:11:58.261 --> 00:12:03.113
And I saw a hearse drive by and so right then

00:12:03.113 --> 00:12:09.394
I had this sinking feeling that there was at least one dead person.

00:12:09.394 --> 00:12:15.037
They took 2 young children it was a 3 year old and a 5 year old.

00:12:15.037 --> 00:12:19.720
They took a 17 year son.

00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:31.033
I saw the youngest of the children, 3 year old Inis..

00:12:31.033 --> 00:12:35.131
He was laying face down in the ditch right here just to our side,

00:12:35.131 --> 00:12:38.254
right behind, right in front of me here actually.

00:12:38.254 --> 00:12:42.412
He looked like he was asleep until we rolled him over

00:12:42.412 --> 00:12:45.029
and saw all the injuries to his face.

00:12:45.029 --> 00:12:52.679
Injuries to his legs, they looked like they were both broken. It was very devastating.

00:12:52.679 --> 00:13:10.695
(music)

00:13:10.695 --> 00:13:14.721
Shortly after the accident, it was pretty rough.

00:13:14.721 --> 00:13:19.736
A lot of tears, a lot of why did this happen?

00:13:19.736 --> 00:13:31.477
(music)

00:13:31.477 --> 00:13:36.158
This note was from Martin Swartz, the father of the children

00:13:36.158 --> 00:13:39.607
that had passed away from my accident.

00:13:39.607 --> 00:13:44.307
It says, Dear Ones, Trusting in God's ways, How does this find you?

00:13:44.307 --> 00:13:47.154
Hope all in good health and in good cheer.

00:13:47.154 --> 00:13:53.636
Around here we're all on the go and trying to make the best we can.

00:13:53.636 --> 00:13:57.919
I always wonder if we take enough time with our children.

00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:01.966
Wishing you the best with your little one and the unknown future.

00:14:01.966 --> 00:14:05.773
I think of you often. Keep looking up. God is always there.

00:14:05.773 --> 00:14:09.658
Sincerely, Martin and Mary Swartz.

00:14:09.658 --> 00:14:15.361
(music)

00:14:15.361 --> 00:14:22.423
I just I wish, I wish so bad I can go back to that day and change my focus.

00:14:22.423 --> 00:14:24.962
I wish I can go back and say,

00:14:24.962 --> 00:14:30.143
"You know, I can do these texts when I get to my stop, when I get there.

00:14:30.143 --> 00:14:33.851
I don't have to do this right now while I'm driving."

00:14:33.851 --> 00:14:37.482
You know, there's just nothing that important. But at that point,

00:14:37.482 --> 00:14:40.898
you know, it was just, oh I can text and drive, it's no big deal.

00:14:40.898 --> 00:14:49.914
And it is a big deal. Please, please don't do it. Please don't ever text and drive.

00:14:49.914 --> 00:14:55.830
It's life, you get one chance and you live with the choice you make.

00:14:55.830 --> 00:14:58.611


00:14:58.611 --> 00:15:16.586
(music)

00:15:16.586 --> 00:15:21.226
She has no life really. Her balance is off, her arms don't work very well.

00:15:21.226 --> 00:15:28.294
She likes to watch the boats going up and down the river. She's got double vision.

00:15:28.294 --> 00:15:35.692
She can't see very well. It's very hard for her. She cannot leave this yard.

00:15:35.692 --> 00:15:42.613
We put up a fence in her backyard so she wouldn't roll down the bank into the river.

00:15:42.613 --> 00:15:46.884


00:15:46.884 --> 00:15:52.736
She loves feeding her birds; taking care of the wildlife that comes around.

00:15:52.736 --> 00:15:56.368
She had her life planned she was always planning everything.

00:15:56.368 --> 00:16:00.876
Now she can't plan anything, because she can't remember anything.

00:16:00.876 --> 00:16:06.488
Debbie was very active, outgoing...she worked 60+ hours a week.

00:16:06.488 --> 00:16:13.121
She held a very good position, traveling all over the world.

00:16:13.121 --> 00:16:19.272
Going to Istanbul, Turkey and travelling to France and loving, working for her job.

00:16:19.272 --> 00:16:23.695
They love Debbie very, very much.

00:16:23.695 --> 00:16:30.268
Now she's dependant on everybody: myself, my brother, friends...

00:16:30.268 --> 00:16:36.013
She cannot go into the front of the yard by herself because her vision.

00:16:36.013 --> 00:16:42.091
(music)

00:16:42.091 --> 00:16:56.567


00:16:56.567 --> 00:17:00.789
It was a Sunday night, August 7th, approximately 9:15,

00:17:00.789 --> 00:17:04.805
my sister had come out of her house to get her mail.

00:17:04.805 --> 00:17:09.077
By the big pine tree she was struck by a teenager texting and driving.

00:17:09.077 --> 00:17:12.787
The white mail box is where my sister was struck,

00:17:12.787 --> 00:17:18.287
was carried on the hood of the car, right over here,

00:17:18.287 --> 00:17:23.307
and this is where the neighbors found her.

00:17:23.307 --> 00:17:28.998
When she was in the hospital she was swollen from head to toe.

00:17:28.998 --> 00:17:31.981
She had a shunt sticking out of her head right here to

00:17:31.981 --> 00:17:36.843
relieve pressure in her brain because her brain was so swollen.

00:17:36.843 --> 00:17:42.002
Her eyes, her right eye was swollen shut. Her face was swollen.

00:17:42.002 --> 00:17:48.305
Her neck was broken. Both her arms were broken. Her ribs were broken.

00:17:48.305 --> 00:17:53.156
Her pelvis was smashed. She had a broken ankle and a broken leg.

00:17:53.156 --> 00:17:57.539
Her thumb ripped off...almost ripped off they sewed it back together.

00:17:57.539 --> 00:17:58.319


00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:02.823
It was terrible, it was heartbreaking.

00:18:02.823 --> 00:18:08.337
She was in her coma and I went up to her and I started talking to her.

00:18:08.337 --> 00:18:11.002
I had her hand and she squeezed my hand, she knew I was there.

00:18:11.002 --> 00:18:14.265
I told her, I said, "Debbie, I know you're in there

00:18:14.265 --> 00:18:17.654
and I know you can't talk or anything but I know you're in there."

00:18:17.654 --> 00:18:19.612
She gave me another squeeze of my hand

00:18:19.612 --> 00:18:23.211
and she knew I was talking to her. She could feel it.

00:18:23.211 --> 00:18:42.321
(music)

00:18:42.321 --> 00:18:47.281
Her sentence was 30 days in jail. She got 5 months of house arrest,

00:18:47.281 --> 00:18:52.605
500 hours of community service and that's about it.

00:18:52.605 --> 00:18:57.480
My sister doesn't want anything to do with her.

00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:02.085
She's too angry right now and I don't think that anger

00:19:02.085 --> 00:19:05.212
is going to go away anytime soon.

00:19:05.212 --> 00:19:09.579
Charlie is the big chocolate lab right here.

00:19:09.579 --> 00:19:19.742
He was 11 years old when he was killed. Charlie was about 115 lbs...

00:19:19.742 --> 00:19:20.974


00:19:20.974 --> 00:19:28.944


00:19:28.944 --> 00:19:33.275
We're working on my sister and then somebody said, "Where's Debbie's dog?"

00:19:33.275 --> 00:19:37.008
That's when the search went out and they found him over there in the trees.

00:19:37.008 --> 00:19:41.212
The mail box, the blue mail box had been knocked out.

00:19:41.212 --> 00:19:46.319
We think he was thrown through the air and knocked that mailbox down.

00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:48.913
He took the full force of the car.

00:19:48.913 --> 00:19:50.559
(dog growls)

00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:54.366
He laid on the side of the road, the neighbors told us,

00:19:54.366 --> 00:19:59.073
wagging his tail while Debbie was being loaded up in the ambulance.

00:19:59.073 --> 00:20:08.287


00:20:08.287 --> 00:20:12.400
Its just not right my sister's life has been changed forever.

00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:20.332
She went from being active to inactive. In a stroke of a second.

00:20:20.332 --> 00:20:25.882
It's over. Her life as she knew it is over. She loved work.

00:20:25.882 --> 00:20:30.609
She helped me with my children, she was always there for me.

00:20:30.609 --> 00:20:37.166
It's heartbreaking everyday to see my sister like this

00:20:37.166 --> 00:20:41.347
when you knew how she was before.

00:20:41.347 --> 00:20:55.798


00:20:55.798 --> 00:21:06.517
I love you.

00:21:06.517 --> 00:21:15.217
(music)

00:21:15.217 --> 00:21:17.481
I'm very fond of telescopes.

00:21:17.481 --> 00:21:22.903
Its just a reminder of my father in the good times we used to have.

00:21:22.903 --> 00:21:26.162
The telescope is just another way I look at him

00:21:26.162 --> 00:21:30.627
being a scientist and the brilliant man he was.

00:21:30.627 --> 00:21:34.597
At night we would go out side and look at the stars

00:21:34.597 --> 00:21:41.307
and he would tell me the different constellations and we would learn them.

00:21:41.307 --> 00:21:44.347
When there were meteor showers he would come

00:21:44.347 --> 00:21:46.805
and wake me up at 3 o clock in the morning

00:21:46.805 --> 00:21:49.607
and he would take me outside and we would stare

00:21:49.607 --> 00:21:52.134
and watch the meteor showers for hours.

00:21:52.134 --> 00:21:55.362
Just me and my Dad wrapped up outside in blankets.

00:21:55.362 --> 00:22:00.805
It was just a phenomenal feeling, just good Father/Daughter time for us.

00:22:00.805 --> 00:22:05.321
The best father I could have ever asked for.

00:22:05.321 --> 00:22:09.890
Growing up I was pretty typical, played a lot of sports growing up,

00:22:09.890 --> 00:22:14.262
played basketball, played football, played baseball, ran track...

00:22:14.262 --> 00:22:16.867
I'm quiet on the phone. I'm awkward on the phone.

00:22:16.867 --> 00:22:24.974
I have always preferred to text or talk in person.

00:22:24.974 --> 00:22:28.589
I'm a cowboy I guess and I'm a child of the mountains.

00:22:28.589 --> 00:22:32.130
I recently took a trip out to the prairie and it was pretty

00:22:32.130 --> 00:22:35.657
but I'm a child of the mountains and I need mountains around me.

00:22:35.657 --> 00:22:40.438
Every morning I get up and watch the sun come up over this mountain to the east.

00:22:40.438 --> 00:22:42.946
It's a beautiful mountain and I watch the sun

00:22:42.946 --> 00:22:46.482
go down in the west over another pretty mountain.

00:22:46.482 --> 00:22:49.597
So I'm not the much into technology as a blacksmith all your problems

00:22:49.597 --> 00:22:53.730
can be solved with a bigger hammer; the more heat and a bigger hammer.

00:22:53.730 --> 00:22:57.049
So I'm not much of a technology guy, and I never liked texting

00:22:57.049 --> 00:22:59.452
and since that day I liked it even less.

00:22:59.452 --> 00:23:05.049
I text often...daily I keep in touch with friends and family.

00:23:05.049 --> 00:23:08.488
The car doing the texting was going this direction.

00:23:08.488 --> 00:23:12.903
The two engineers were heading out this way

00:23:12.903 --> 00:23:16.680
and as they passed they brushed each other,

00:23:16.680 --> 00:23:20.244
which spun the little blue car with the engineers...

00:23:20.244 --> 00:23:29.106
spun it around this way into the path of an oncoming pickup.

00:23:29.106 --> 00:23:33.261
There's about a 15 or 16 mile stretch of highway 30 going to Logan.

00:23:33.261 --> 00:23:39.277
From the time we started on that stretch of road headed towards Logan,

00:23:39.277 --> 00:23:41.363
the driver ahead of me was distracted

00:23:41.363 --> 00:23:46.051
he crossed over the center line multiple times.

00:23:46.051 --> 00:23:51.667
It was early in the morning, It was still fairly dark outside.

00:23:51.667 --> 00:23:53.357


00:23:53.357 --> 00:23:58.122
It was raining pretty bad and I'm on the way to work, texting,

00:23:58.122 --> 00:24:04.210
and reading messages and I go across the center line and I hit another car.

00:24:04.210 --> 00:24:06.720
I don't remember what I was texting.

00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:11.335
I don't remember what the message said. That's how important it was.

00:24:11.335 --> 00:24:14.502
I saw him cross over the center line

00:24:14.502 --> 00:24:20.289
and at that moment things going into slow motion and you can just see...

00:24:20.289 --> 00:24:23.291
I thought, man, this is going to be bad.

00:24:23.291 --> 00:24:26.487
I remember the sound of the cars hitting:

00:24:26.487 --> 00:24:30.125
glass breaking, brakes, and tires squealing.

00:24:30.125 --> 00:24:36.037
He just side swiped it and sent it into a skid and I had the definite recollection

00:24:36.037 --> 00:24:41.126
that I knew right then that I was going to collide with that car.

00:24:41.126 --> 00:24:46.039
I just thought, "Oh, this is going to be bad." I knew right then and there.

00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:49.623
The question on my mind was, "How bad is this going to be?"

00:24:49.623 --> 00:25:03.832
My truck...hit the passengers side of the car and basically scooped the car up

00:25:03.832 --> 00:25:06.267
and carried it off into the ditch with us.

00:25:06.267 --> 00:25:11.248
I had braked and was trying to stop and avoid it and obviously I couldn't.

00:25:11.248 --> 00:25:15.798
My pickup went halfway through that car.

00:25:15.798 --> 00:25:20.509
I got out of my car and I ran back towards the accident

00:25:20.509 --> 00:25:24.674
and...there was a man on the phone,

00:25:24.674 --> 00:25:41.501
I heard him say there were two men in the car that... weren't breathing.

00:25:41.501 --> 00:25:45.775
The two people that were killed were inside the blue car.

00:25:45.775 --> 00:25:51.936
This other one shows what the car looked like after the accident.

00:25:51.936 --> 00:26:29.356
...I look at that picture...

00:26:29.356 --> 00:26:37.089


00:26:37.089 --> 00:26:46.799
all I can think about is those families, those two men.

00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:49.657
While I was driving I decided that texting

00:26:49.657 --> 00:26:58.517
and driving was more important to me than those two men and their families.

00:26:58.517 --> 00:27:03.113


00:27:03.113 --> 00:27:12.787
...and how selfish that was of me to make that decision to text and drive.

00:27:12.787 --> 00:27:17.095


00:27:17.095 --> 00:27:29.202
Knowing everyday...that you killed two people, is

00:27:29.202 --> 00:27:34.515
one of the hardest things you can live with.

00:27:34.515 --> 00:27:42.309
I have night terrors all the time about my Dad's car accident that come in waves

00:27:42.309 --> 00:27:48.962
...It could be just me standing on the side of the highway where it happened.

00:27:48.962 --> 00:27:54.512
Just watching the accident happen and not being able to move, I can't go try

00:27:54.512 --> 00:27:59.758
and stop the accident from happening. I can't go see if my fathers okay.

00:27:59.758 --> 00:28:03.690
I can't save my father, I'm just standing on the side of the road,

00:28:03.690 --> 00:28:06.422
I can't do anything...

00:28:06.422 --> 00:28:16.067
To I've been...Reggie, the one texting while driving that hits the car.

00:28:16.067 --> 00:28:21.676
Just being the one that causes the accident...

00:28:21.676 --> 00:28:28.647
To I've been the driver of the truck that t-boned my Dad.

00:28:28.647 --> 00:28:37.962
Just sitting in the seat, killing my own father.

00:28:37.962 --> 00:28:41.377
I ended up with some herniated discs in my back

00:28:41.377 --> 00:28:44.373
and my knees took a pretty big beating in the dash.

00:28:44.373 --> 00:28:50.048
How much of the damage from them in the accident?

00:28:50.048 --> 00:28:53.178
I don't know. Horseshoeing is a very physical occupation.

00:28:53.178 --> 00:28:55.632
It's hard on your back anyway

00:28:55.632 --> 00:29:02.053
and to suddenly end up with some herniated discs...your life horseshoeing is over.

00:29:02.053 --> 00:29:14.184


00:29:14.184 --> 00:29:22.230
Its been almost 7 years in September and it is still very difficult for me.

00:29:22.230 --> 00:29:28.920
That accident was preventable. There's no other way to look at it.

00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:33.109
I put my phone away and I save those two men's lives.

00:29:33.109 --> 00:29:36.682
It's that simple. It's that simple, for me,

00:29:36.682 --> 00:29:44.272
now looking back and when I speak to others I share the same message.

00:29:44.272 --> 00:29:49.305
I say, "Its now that easy for you going forward to save someone's life.

00:29:49.305 --> 00:29:51.922
You put the phone away while you drive

00:29:51.922 --> 00:29:55.259
and you're safer behind the wheel and everyone else is

00:29:55.259 --> 00:29:57.847
safer on the road around you."

00:29:57.847 --> 00:30:01.375
I want people to look at me and look at what I did

00:30:01.375 --> 00:30:08.257
and what I caused and say, " I don't want to be that guy."

00:30:08.257 --> 00:30:16.678


00:30:16.678 --> 00:30:23.548
The first time I saw Reggie in court, my feelings were just pure hatred.

00:30:23.548 --> 00:30:29.156
I was appalled at the fact that this kid my age had killed my Dad...

00:30:29.156 --> 00:30:31.396
taken him away from me.

00:30:31.396 --> 00:30:35.288
On my sentencing date, the families had a chance to get up

00:30:35.288 --> 00:30:37.940
and address me and speak to me.

00:30:37.940 --> 00:30:41.875
All I can do is just look at him and hate him

00:30:41.875 --> 00:30:45.987
and wish how much he would die and that it was him

00:30:45.987 --> 00:30:49.153
that was dead instead of my Dad.

00:30:49.153 --> 00:30:58.335
Megan got up and she talked about her wedding and she had just gotten married...

00:30:58.335 --> 00:31:07.984
and she talks about her father wasn't there to walk her down the aisle...

00:31:07.984 --> 00:31:16.403
and she looked at me and she said because you took that from me...

00:31:16.403 --> 00:31:24.067
she was absolutely right.

00:31:24.067 --> 00:31:29.349
I would like to think that my Dad is somewhere in the universe.

00:31:29.349 --> 00:31:33.900
I go outside at night and sit on my balcony when I'm really upset

00:31:33.900 --> 00:31:40.833
and I stare at the sky and whenever I'm super upset, I always see a shooting star.

00:31:40.833 --> 00:31:48.825
I like to think that's my Dad's way of communicating with me.

00:31:48.825 --> 00:31:55.563
I felt that my Dad would not have wanted me to be mad at him for the rest of my life

00:31:55.563 --> 00:31:59.375
and I knew my Dad had forgiven him.

00:31:59.375 --> 00:32:04.126
I knew that and that he would want me to try and move on

00:32:04.126 --> 00:32:09.204
and forgive him and even get to know him.

00:32:09.204 --> 00:32:19.792
Forgiveness is...something that I see from Megan.

00:32:19.792 --> 00:32:26.914
I see that forgiveness, I feel it. I'm grateful for it.

00:32:26.914 --> 00:32:35.174
I reached out to Reggie to tell him that my Dad forgives you, I forgive you.

00:32:35.174 --> 00:32:51.045
I want to help you through, you trying to make a difference in this whole thing.

00:32:51.045 --> 00:32:53.626
I was once told that to be a good member of society,

00:32:53.626 --> 00:32:56.960
you have to give back more than you can take.

00:32:56.960 --> 00:33:03.916
I can never give back those two men's lives ever

00:33:03.916 --> 00:33:15.555


00:33:15.555 --> 00:33:22.019
I would just like to say for anybody out there who has a cell phone,

00:33:22.019 --> 00:33:26.938
focus while you're driving, pay attention while you're driving,

00:33:26.938 --> 00:33:29.625
don't take your eyes off the road while you're driving.

00:33:29.625 --> 00:33:34.950
Things can happen so quick that will change your life forever.

00:33:34.950 --> 00:33:45.180
I will say it over and over and over again, don't text and drive...It can wait.

00:33:45.180 --> 00:33:50.755
I would tell America to please don't text and drive,

00:33:50.755 --> 00:33:55.009
how many other people are going to have to be killed?

00:33:55.009 --> 00:34:01.123
How many other people are going to be like my sister Debbie?

00:34:01.123 --> 00:34:05.557
It's nuts, It's crazy,

00:34:05.557 --> 00:34:09.393
I don't know why people don't' want to talk to each other anyway.

00:34:09.393 --> 00:34:36.317
(music)

00:34:36.317 --> 00:34:55.469


00:34:55.469 --> 00:35:05.469