Tow truck driver hit on 390: 'I don't remember a thing' (NY)

[TowNews]

The crash ruptured four of his organs and left him with no memory of what happened.

 

Tow truck driver Clayton George spent a month and a half in the hospital after he was hit by a car on the side of the road.

 

He got home just before Christmas. 

 

What happened to George is a reminder to move over when you see an emergency crew on the side of the road. The first thing News10NBC asked him to do was list his injuries. 

 

Clayton George: "Shattered my pelvis. I think I broke the two small bones at the bottom of my skull. Ruptured my spleen, my kidney, my liver and then a collapsed long I guess."

 

The picture of George at Strong Hospital shows him in a coma with breathing tubes. 

 

He met News10NBC Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean in a wheelchair at his home in Holley on Wednesday. 

George: "From when I took the call to when I was actually hit, I don't remember anything."

 

News10NBC Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean: "When people tell you what happened, what do you think?"

 

George: "I'm like 'if you say so. I don't remember any thing of it.'"

That's why both George and Brean have to rely on the police reports. 

 

George was driving a tow truck and went to a call for a car off the road on I-390 southbound just past Avon.

It was Nov.13 and it was cold. The police reports says a car hit black ice, spun out of control and hit George when he was out of his truck. 

 

The police report diagram says he was thrown 60 yards, more than half a football field. The reports say the driver hit the patch of ice when she was trying to move over. The driver got a ticket for unsafe speed. 

 

Brean: "Do you feel any anger towards that person?"

 

George: "No."

 

On Wednesday, News10NBC saw a line of cars move over when they passed a New York State Police SUV. But according to the state DMV, police ticketed 12,775 drivers for not moving over by mid-November. That's 40 a day. 

George got home the Thursday before Christmas. He can walk a couple of steps at a time.

 

His goal is to get back to work and back in the water by bass season in April. 

 

George: "It's like the biggest thing pushing me is getting back fishing, being able to pick the kayak up and get in the kayak."

 

George runs the New York State Kayak Bass Fishing Association. His medical bills top $200,000 right now but he thinks workers' compensation is going to cover all of it. 

 

RESOURCE LINK with video