The birds are chirping; the bees are buzzing, and everything that has come to be is beautiful in a rural part of South East TX. Then, in less than a 1/10th of a second...everything is devastatingly changed.
My brother Cory is two years younger than me, which makes him 26. Yesterday he was on his way back from a service call (he is a heavy machinery mechanic). He was driving along this baren stretch of road when he happened upon, roughly, a mile long stretch of construction. The road he was on is a two lane road. They had one lane blocked off. The northbound and southbound traffic we're taking turns proceeding in the one empty lane with the assistance of county police flaggers.
There was nobody behind my brother. Nearly a mile ahead on the opposite end was the other flagger, a small gold car, and a blue Chevy Avalanche. It was my brothers turn to go, and he proceeded ahead with the nod from the flagger on his end. He gets about half way down this mile long stretch of construction, and see's something you only see in movies. A fully loaded 18 Wheeler comes barreling through....and does not stop. The truck flips over and rolls...all this happening right in front of my brother. He says to himself, "that did not happen." He convinces himself that the poof of dust and debris we're from the guys working construction in the lane that's blocked off. Those guys by the way are running loud machinery and all are wearing ear plugs. They can't hear anything.
He gets to the end of the stretch of construction, and spots what's left of a small car. The trunk was completely missing. Inside the car sat a man, shaken, cut, but ok. Cory pulls over, gets out of the car, and runs to the man in the car. The door is stuck, so Cory runs back to his car to get a crowbar. He pries the door open, all while assuring the man that everything will be ok. He grabs his knife and cuts the mans seatbelt, and pulls him off to safety.
My brother then notices a Chevy Avalance in the ditch. He runs to the truck only to find a man impailed with a 2x6 fence post. The fence post had gone through the windshield, through the man, and out the back seat. Cory calms the driver, telling him that everything will be ok. He realizes there is nothing he can do for this man, and directs his attention to the over turned 18-wheeler. When he approaches he spots the driver..."with his heels touching his chin." Cory assures the man that everything will be ok, and help is on the way. By this time he realizes he is the only person there. The guys working construction aren't even aware of the chaos because of loud machinery and ear plugs. He then looks down, and finds the upper half of a policeman sticking out form beneath the cab of the semi. The semi has rolled over on top of him. The policeman is in shock, gasping for air, and in severe distress. Cory looks under the cab, only to notice that one of the mans legs has been cut off. Just about the same time, the other flagger on Cory's end of the road had finally made the one mile jaunt to help. He was screaming the other police officers name, and crying. By this time I guess the calvary had arrived; and all helped to get this man out from under the truck.
I'm waiting to hear back from my brother on the status of the police man that was crushed. My thoughts and prayers go out for the familes of those involved.
When I told Brandi this story, I immediately started to cry when I got to the part of the police man running to save his partner who was crushed beneath the cab of a semi. The man quite possibly has family, and now that I am a father...I see things much differently...I think more now than ever. I can only imagine the pain that his family is going through.
Naturally, I found myself asking the question, "why did this happen?" Obviously, my brother was put there at that spot for a specific reason. If he hadn't of been there, it would have been a good while before anybody realized the horrible accident. Yesterday, my brother was the hero...and I couldn't be more proud of him for putting his life at risk to save others.
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