“I was a wrecker driver for many years. Toward the end it got really old, especially when the phone rings all night long at your house.

“When it’s the police calling, you never know what kind of scene you’re going to drive up on. I worked lots of bad wrecks around here. The worst was probably years ago out on Decker Drive. This guy and his brother were in a Mustang, racing another car. He lost control and hit a pole. His brother died. I had to drag that car off the pole so they could cut those boys out.

“Later, the brother who was driving tried to commit suicide. He didn’t want to live knowing that he had killed his younger brother. They were both just teenagers. Man, that was pretty rough.”

— Fred Roach

Related:

• After motorcycle accident, he’s just trying to get by

The post Wrecker driver saw his share of bad accidents appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“About two years ago I was in a bad motorcycle wreck. I had just bought a new Harley. I hadn’t even put 300 miles on it. I was going around a curve when this guy came all the way over in my lane. He ran me off the road and I flipped five times. They thought I was about dead when they loaded me in the helicopter.

“I was in a coma for three weeks. After a bunch of surgeries on this leg they said, ‘We probably just need to cut it off.’ I said, ‘Bullshit. Y’all are fired, and I’m leaving.’ They told me I wouldn’t ever walk again. Well, you know what? God has more power than anybody. I know that’s the only reason I’m alive and able to walk today. This leg is 4 inches shorter than the other one, but a doctor made a special shoe so I can walk without a wobble.

“At the time of the accident, my wife and I had been married 35 years. But while I was in the hospital, she decided to divorce me and take everything I had. So I’m on my own. I don’t ask nobody for nothing. I get a little disability check every month. I come over here every morning and get me a Dr. Pepper and a pack of cigarettes, and I sit here most of the day. My biggest challenge is just to be able to keep walking and to get by every day.

“I have a mini-Chihuahua in my apartment, and I wouldn’t take a million dollars for that dog. His name is Chico, and he’s a really good boy.”

— Fred Roach, 63

Related:

• Wrecker driver saw his share of bad accidents

The post After motorcycle accident, he’s just trying to get by appeared first on The Baytown Project.