When someone we love is in danger, we worry endlessly. When strangers step in to help, the gratitude is beyond words.
Stacie Mathis would echo that sentiment. Her father, Hubert Fox, living with dementia and Alzheimer’s at the time, disappeared on Dec. 27, 2022. Mathis spent hours desperately wanting to find her dad until complete strangers worked together to prevent what could have ended tragically.
Fox, 85 years old at the time, had remarried three years earlier and was living in Beaumont with his new wife. It was during this time that his health began to decline.
“He couldn’t remember how to get to my house a couple of times,” Mathis said. “He had access to his keys and shouldn’t have, but people make mistakes with people they love. He made it to my house and we had a nice visit.”
It worked out that time, but the next time, it wouldn’t.
On Dec. 27, Fox left his home, but instead of driving to Mathis’ house, he drove toward Livingston, where he got lost.
“His wife called me, and she was worried,” Mathis said. “She said, ‘Dad’s gone. Nobody knows where he is.’ She filed a silver alert and we prayed.”
Sgt. Brian Bishop, with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, was patrolling early the next morning, around 6:15, when he found a stranded motorist in a moving lane of traffic.
“I was heading eastbound on I-10 east, and I saw a vehicle stranded on the No. 4 moving lane of traffic,” Bishop said.
9-1-1 communication officers Tristan and Nelms investigated further to obtain Fox’s daughter’s name, address and phone number to provide to Bishop.
He quickly confirmed he’d found Fox, for whom a silver alert with disabilities had been issued.
Bishop said Fox, who did not want to exit his vehicle, appeared scared and confused.
“He was sitting in his truck with his hands on the steering wheel, saying, ‘I can’t make it stop. The dang truck won’t stop,’” Bishop said. “I told him he wasn’t moving.”
Bishop learned Fox had left his home the previous day, had a pocket full of money, and got lost throughout the day. Bishop added that he could tell Fox possibly had dementia.
“I got him out of the truck, in my vehicle, called for a wrecker and another unit for traffic control,” Bishop said.
Fox had driven his truck looking for Mathis’ house until it ran out of gas. When he was found, he was cold, and the windows were lowered on his vehicle.
Tow & Go, a partnership program between the Houston-Galveston Area Council and Harris County, dispatched a wrecker to remove Fox’s vehicle from the ramp.
Next, Bishop contacted Mathis, who lived in Seabrook.
“They were able to tow his car to his daughter’s house, and I drove him home personally,” Bishop said.
“They found him and the next thing I know, they’re towing his car to my house,” Mathis said. “You’re afraid of what might happen, and you’re kind of expecting the worst. When they pulled up with his vehicle and he was OK, to have it turn out so good … it was good when he came back.”
She said when she looks back, she knows the story could have ended more tragically. She couldn’t underscore enough just how grateful she was.
“Thank God he didn’t die on that road,” Mathis said. “Thank God somebody found him and helped him. It could have been so much worse. There was a lot of coordination between the police departments and Tow & Go. It was amazing. It could have gone so many different ways, but it didn’t because of them. I am so grateful.”
Lt. Luis Alegria, with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, said they occasionally come across incidents like Fox’s that remind them of why they got into the business of helping in the first place.
“The overwhelming majority of the assistance provided by Tow & Go is the towing of stranded motorists off the highways as a result of mechanical problems, flat tires or running of out fuel,” Alegria said. “This definitely saves lives, because stranded motorists have a high probability of being struck when they are on the highway.”
Tow & Go was created with a mission to improve the safety of stranded motorists by quickly removing them from the freeways to a safe location, just as they did with Fox on that early, cold December morning.
In addition to keeping motorists on the move and traffic flowing, the quick clearance Tow & Go provides also reduces the chance of dangerous secondary incidents, which can ultimately save lives.
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