Hit-and-run drunk driver drags cyclist Brian Lindquist 10/12/12

bizikletari · 2013-01-31 14:15:58

Facebook page for Brian Linquist reports the driver is actually being charged by DA with assault with deadly weapon, dwi and failure to stop and render help.
I have not been able to confirm using my omniscient phone.
Does anyone have any news on it?

owlman · 2013-01-31 14:36:28

Check out http://www.facebook.com/groups/JusticeF … nCyclists/

CyclistLawAttorneys wrote:

Defendant TRUETT JONES who driving while intoxicated hit BRIAN LINDQUIST from behind while Brian was riding his bicycle has been indicted on all charges, Intoxication Assault (with a deadly weapon)—which is a 3rd degree, Aggravated Assault with a deadly weapon-which is a 2nd degree, and Failure to Stop and Render Aid (a 3rd degree)

owlman · 2016-04-02 13:36:12

I didn't see the case outcome posted here yet... in November 2014 the driver Truett Jones pleaded guilty to felony failure to stop and render aid and felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 4 years jail + 10 years concurrent probation.

I was looking up a different case today and noticed a civil trial between Brian's mother and Truett Jones scheduled for later this year.

Brian was left seriously brain-damaged by the crash. You can read his mother's heartbreaking allocution letter from the criminal trial: http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/news … /jones.pdf

MichaelBluejay · 2016-04-08 00:08:58

Wow. The case is so dramatic that I'm reproducing the mother's allocution below.

Is four years' jail enough time for destroying someone's *entire* life as described below? Because it wasn't a random traffic collision, it was DWI, *and* it was hit-and-run.

And what do we do about this? Do we spend our limited time fighter for tougher sentences after the fact, or do we try to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future? And if the latter, how exactly can we best effect change?

Allocution Letter from Susan Buehler mother of Brian Lindquist
Truett Jones, the letter you sent to Brian and my family is worthless. We have not seen or heard any remorse, any change in your behavior or received any help. You should be ashamed with all of the money you have cost us, Brian, The State of Texas, Social Security and your parents.
Brian was and is a great guy. He was a normal, healthy young man. He took care of his body with exercise, riding his bycicle to work 6 1/2 miles each day. He enjoyed hiking and repelling. He loved working on computers. He was my computer guru. If I had a computer question, I'd go to him. Now he doesn't know how to use the internet. That memory is lost. He still loves computers but gets so confused and frustrated when he tries.
He was a generous person and lived simply. I was told by one of his coworkers that he gave $100 to a girl at work for her baby shower. He had no use for extravagance. He never asked me for money. He lived independently. If he couldn't afford something, he did without, even when I would offer to help. Now that person is lost. His independence is lost. He will never marry, have a family, or a job. You took his independence away from him. All of his hopes and his dreams are gone. He had hoped to work his way up with the Double Tree Inn and transfer within the company to other states.
What happened to my son and my family is inexcusable and unforgiveable. It could have been prevented. However, you, Truett Jones, chose to drive, while under the influence, that fateful day of October 12, 2012, leaving my son lying in the road to die. That date will be forever etched into our minds.
Brian's father will never lose the image of him lying in the ER unrecognizable. I will never forget seeing him, after flying from Pennsylvania, with a swollen head and body, tubes coming from every orifice, on life support and in a coma. A horror that no family should have to see or go through.
While your bonds were paid, for various crimes you committed afterwards, you kept enjoying life, while Brian suffered day in and day out, breaking my heart. The time you spend in prison is minimal and nothing compared to the imprisoned body and mind that Brian will have to endure for the rest of his life. As he says, with his limited speech, "It's a living hell." On occasion he will slap his head and angrily
say, "I'm crazy," or "I'm fucked up." I then have to explain the entire scenario as to why his brain is not right.
Brian has either been in hospitals or neuro rehabilitation facilities for two years. He had a craniotomy, tracheostomy while on a respirator, shunt placement for hydrocephalus, meningitis twice, pneumonia, several shunt revisions, fractured clavicle, fractured ribs, fractured scapula, two feeding tubes, seizures, and complications with medications.
There have been numerous emergency situations over the past two years that, yet again, we did not know if he was going to live or die or, or live in a vegetative state. This has been ongoing. It never ends. He will always have complications.
Brian had to learn to walk again. He couldn't even hold his head up. With medication side effects, causing him to lose his balance, he has had to learn to walk several more times. Even now he is trying to regain his balance.
He has receptive and expressive aphasia, meaning he has difficulty understanding, and apraxia meaning he does not know how to talk. His brain is so scrambled that his language comes out as gibberish. On occasion we understand a few words or automatic phrases. One day while I was helping him with his speech lessons, he said, "I'm stupid." It broke my heart. He cannot read or write. He suffers from short term memory loss. So many memories are lost to him.
He has double vision and wears a patch over one eye to be able to see certain things.
I had to become his Legal Guardian. It hurts me to know my son is incompetent and does not have the cognitive ability to understand and make his own decisions. I am his voice and his advocate making sure he gets the right treatments. I have struggled and fought the system to get him into neuro rehabilitation facilities, get him Medicaid then lose it after 6 months, Social Security Disability, Crime Victims Compensation, DARS and health insurance. Medicaid and Crime Victims expect to be paid back when he receives any money. I fight off bill collectors and collection agencies because of his unpaid medical bills.
May 12, 2014 he had a cranioplasty, due to his head caving in with no bone to protect it, because that bone had dissolved.
September 3, 2014, he had another shunt revision. When his shunt fails his brain fills with fluid causing him to fall frequently with very little balance. He is more confused. He stares into space. He threw up daily for a week after the surgery
with no appetite, repeating over and over, "I'm dying. I'm dying. I'm dying." "Death, death, death," as he stared into space. I went home crying every day.
Now he has returned to a neuro rehabilitation facility to regain his balance, his cognitive ability and learn to communicate. Complete restoration of speech is most likely unattainable.
For two years I have fought for his rights and his care. He ran out of resources in Texas with nowhere to go. Since June 16, 2014, he has lived with my husband and I. I have terminal cancer. I am weary. I don't know how much time I have left. I did not plan for my last days to be my son's care giver. I struggle with many questions. Who is going to care for Brian? Who is going to pay for his care? Who will be his advocate? I have so many fears and unanswered questions.

MichaelBluejay · 2016-04-08 00:38:27

Bicycle Austin forum

#1 2013-01-31 14:15:58

Hit-and-run drunk driver drags cyclist Brian Lindquist 10/12/12

#2 2013-01-31 14:36:28

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver drags cyclist Brian Lindquist 10/12/12

#3 2016-04-02 13:36:12

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver drags cyclist Brian Lindquist 10/12/12

#4 2016-04-08 00:08:58

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver drags cyclist Brian Lindquist 10/12/12

#5 2016-04-08 00:38:27

Re: Hit-and-run drunk driver drags cyclist Brian Lindquist 10/12/12

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