Posted on 04/28/2013 9:08:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Man injured after trying to take keys from what he believed was a passed out drunk driver.
John Woods, 35, was trying to do a good thing... a bold thing... but it was costly.
"He has a punctured lung, he has two broken ribs, a broken collar bone, a broken c7 vertebrae,” said his wife Brandi Woods Sunday morning outside JPS Hospital in Fort Worth.
Woods tried to get a drunk driver, who had been going northbound on the southbound side of State Highway 360 in Grand Prairie Friday night, off the road. They ended up side by side at a stop light at Highway 360 and Ragland.
"Completely passed out,” Brandi Woods said of the other driver. “Hands no longer on the wheel and my husband says 'our kids are in the car behind us, I'm not going to have this.’ He jumps out of the vehicle. Goes to the driver’s side. Reaches in to try to take the keys out and the gentleman comes to and floors it..."
"My husband instinctively knew he needed to hang on because it would have either been be run over right there or he put his legs on the running bars and he is half body in the truck and takes over the steering wheel."
Woods, owner of Woods General Contracting, either jumped off or fell off and the guy in the grey crew cab took off. Witnesses and family members got out of their cars and started looking for John Woods in the waist-high grass.
"My worst fear was to find him and my best thought was to find him because I didn't know what I was going to find," said Brandi Woods.
He was banged up good, but doctors say all his injuries will heal in time and Sunday afternoon he went home. Wife Brandi appreciates what he husband tried to do, but with four young daughters, this can't happen again.
"I'm going to put him in the back seat with the child locks on (laughs)," said Brandi Woods. "I feel that what he did was heroic and he wasn't doing it for a badge, a medal or an honor or to be put on a pedestal. He was doing it for the lives of the people behind us, for our kids, for ourselves. Maybe even for the gentleman driving."
And Woods says she hopes that gentleman has a conscience and turns himself in.
In hindsight, he could have taken down the license plate and a description of the car, instead of trying to take the keys. Or, just call the cops. (Although doing so might reduce their speeding ticket revenue.)
this is when a spike strip would come in handy for regular citizens.
A crowbar or large knife to one of his tires. I appreciate this man’s actions, but opening a car door to grab the keys isn’t too smart. I’m glad he’ll be OK.
He did the right thing...it is just a problem with today’s society that they think he went too far...too bad though. It is a reflection on the folks today. Right is right and wrong is wrong - too bad that other don’t understand the difference. Such is our crappy life now! Yes, I don’t want to be part of it either!
Attempted carjacking gone wrong?
Yes, probably not the best choice he ever made. Could have handled that better.
They taught us in Driver’s Ed to just reach out the window and slap the driver.
Jeeze! I just read the posted comments here and found them to be asinine. ......Mr. Wood was trying to prevent a possible head-on collision between the vehicles headed South and this drunk headed the wrong way.
This incident happened in my general area and I watched the local news coverage.
The gray pickup was headed North on the Southbound lane of a three-lane freeway, but was stopped on the shoulder and the drunk driver was apparently passed out. Mr. Wood reached through the open window to remove the key and the drunk woke up and stomped on the accelerator. Wood then fell and suffered serious injuries.
Yup. I have zero tolerance for drunk drivers. ZERO. Faced the same one night following behind a drunk driver who narrowly averted head on collisions twice within a quarter mile span. My boy was out on the same highway at that time. I wasn’t about to let the two meet, and waiting for a response to a 911 call wasn’t an option.
not so sure that reaching into ta stranger’s car is a good idea. i wouldn’t have done it. call the police. this guy could have had a gun and put one in his face, you never know. if you’re that concerned, then block his car in with yoru own. better sheet metal damage than what this guy has.
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