Injured officer thanks good samaritan for helping stop drunk driving suspect
A Denton County Jail corrections officer thanked the Good Samaritan who chased and pinned down a drunk driving suspect who slammed into his car.
Jim Terry woke up in the hospital weeks after that July crash. He's going through physical therapy and had to learn how to walk again. He says he wanted to make sure he could walk up and personally thank everyone who helped him that day.
Terry had not met Benito Hernandez, before Friday. Their lives collided on July 3rd, when police say a drunk driver hit a car, ran a red light, and hit Terry, who was riding his motorcycle to work.
Hernandez saw the whole thing. “At the time I was like, oh no no no, and then bam. I saw him fly, like a shooting star. He was just going. His hands were everywhere.”
Police say the drunk driver, Oscar Salmeron, sped away after the crash, but Hernandez wasn't going to let him get away. “It was either let him go or do something about it, and I wanted to do something about it,” said Hernandez.
He chased the driver down with his pickup. He also recorded video of the aftermath, showing the suspect's smashed up white sedan in the field, where he pinned Salmeron down until police arrived.
“I grabbed his arm and twisted it to the back and dragged him to halfway,” said Hernandez.
The accident left terry with a broken jaw, pelvis, legs and wrists. He woke up three weeks later and doesn't remember anything from the accident.
The hit and run suspect is now behind bars and on an immigration hold; charged with intoxication assault with a vehicle, causing an accident, hitting an unattended vehicle, and criminal mischief.
“He tried to leave the scene, leave me laying there to die and this young man put himself out there to keep me alive and prevent him from hurting anyone else,” said Officer Terry.
Slowly but surely, Terry is continuing his recovery.
Terry also credits the helmet he was wearing that day with saving his life, but he says he's not letting this incident stop him from riding again. He even invited Hernandez to ride with him if he ever gets a motorcycle of his own. Terry says he plans to get back to work someday soon.