By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
A quiet Val Verde County Sunday morning was shattered when an 18-wheeler slammed into a Jeep Cherokee, a sling and four Harley Davidson motorcycles waiting at a construction site on US Highway 90.
The crash has closed the road between Brackettville and Del Rio until further notice.
The motorcycles, belonging to members of The Gypsies Motorcycle Club, were waiting about 300 yards before Sycamore Creek Bridge, where there is an ongoing construction project.
“We were starting our ride and we stopped for the red light at the construction zone,” said Robert Mason, a friend of The Gypsies. “We might have been sitting there 30 seconds and we start hearing tires screeching and metal crunching. I saw the jeep come flying past us on the left side and the truck was coming down the right side. The trailer was taking out the bikes as it came down.
“I perched down and waited for the blow but it never touched me.”
“That jeep took the brunt of the blow. If it hadn’t been there, we’d have all been dead,” he said.
Mason said as soon as the crash was over, he jumped off of his motorcycle and began helping his fellow riders.
“One of them had his leg severed and I applied a tourniquet. Another one laying next to him, I don’t know if his leg was broke or his back, but he was hurting all over,” Mason said. “I was just trying to keep him still.”
Mason theorized that another riding partner might have had a broken leg.
Mason, a veteran, said he learned his first aid when he was in the Air Force.
All the riders were government employees at Laughlin AFB.
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers are leading the investigation with support from Val Verde County and Kinney County deputies.
“It is very common for Kinney County and Val Verde to support each other,” said Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez.
Three members of the gypsies and the driver of the Jeep Four people were transported to Val Verde Regional Medical Center.
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Contact the author at joelalangton@gmail.com
