PEARLAND, Texas – A man is still recovering in a hospital after a serious motorcycle crash caused by a hit-and-run driver. He says he wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for one off-duty officer helping him off the road.
Samuel and Kimberly Snow count their blessings because Sam is still here.
“We can’t thank God enough,” Kimberly Snow said, describing their gratitude over Sam surviving a hit-and-run crash.
“I’m in quite a bit of pain, off and on,” Sam added, as the couple spoke from a hospital room at Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.
According to Pearland police, a white pickup truck struck Samuel Snow at the intersection of Bailey Road and Manvel Road in Pearland on March 3. Snow said he was riding his motorcycle as he approached the intersection. He said as he approached, he remembered seeing the truck in a left turning lane. It was dark outside, so Sam said he wanted to make sure that the truck’s driver saw him.
“I flipped my lights, revved my engine. I’m pretty sure I hit my horn, as well. In doing so, I could see him nudging impatiently,” Samuel Snow said.
It didn’t work, the truck hit Samuel and kept going. Several people rushed to Sam’s aid. While his memory is fuzzy, he remembers voices.
“I heard a lot of voices, mainly two,” he said, mentioning a woman and later a man.
The man, it turned out, was Pearland police Assist. Chief Kevin Nichols, who was off duty at the time.
“I saw the damaged motorcycle in the middle of the intersection and I saw Mr. Snow on the ground with a group of people around him,” Nichols said.
Nichols said he was driving home with his son when he saw Snow in the street.
“I walked over and saw that Mr. Snow had a traumatic injury to his leg, his right leg. It looked like a partial amputation to his lower right leg,” Nichols said.
The officer said he applied a tourniquet he had in his truck as another officer soon responded. Together, the pair applied a second tourniquet.
“It’s because of them I’m alive today,” Snow said.
While doctors partially amputated one of Snow’s legs -- an infection has set in, meaning doctors will have to amputate the full leg. A GoFundMe account has been created to help the family during what will be a long road ahead. (Click here to donate)
“We can’t thank everybody enough for all their help,” Kimberly Snow said.
The Snows are thankful to all who served and protected that night. Of course that includes Nichols -- who says all he did was do his job.
“I’m very glad one of us was able to be there with the proper equipment, the proper training to make a difference in this man’s life,” he said.