Truck Driver Assault

My wrecked truck was towed to a small lot in Chiloquin, OR. Away from the noise and flashing lights of the accident scene, I could see my truck was totaled and a lot of my things were destroyed. It was 4:00AM, I was hundreds of miles from home in the middle of nowhere and injured. I was barely able to walk, no vehicle and most of my belongings in a tow yard in Chiloquin, OR. Fortunately, the man and wife who towed my truck were incredibly nice people and I will always be grateful for what they did for me. The tow truck driver offered to give me a ride to a local truck stop where they had a trucker's lounge. There were virtually no other options given the remote location. I grabbed what I could carry and he drove me to the truck stop. He told me his wife would be driving into Klamath Falls, OR and she could pick me up in a few hours and give me a ride so I could rent a U Haul truck. The truckers lounge was empty so I sat down in a corner and tried to figure out what to do. The adrenaline from the initial shock of the accident was starting to wear off and I was in a lot of pain. I sent a few text messages to my friends to let them know what had happened and where I was. A man working at the counter and another female employee of the truck stop were the only other people.

A short time later, another man came into the truck stop carrying a duffel bag. He came into the truckers lounge and sat a few feet away. It was Russell Wright III, the driver of the truck who had hit me. Because I was in the darkest corner of the room, he did not immediately recognize me. He began talking on his cell phone. He was agitated and very loud, impossible to not hear what he was saying. He was complaining to someone about being blamed for the accident because he was black. This went on for a few minutes when the female employee of the truck stop asked if the duffel bag in the middle of the room belonged to Mr. Wright. He got up to grab his bag when he recognized me.

He came over to me holding his duffel bag and asked "what kind of citation" I got. I did not know it at the time, but Mr. Wright had been cited for careless driving at the scene. I told him I did not get a citation. When he heard that, he went ballistic, yelling how he had been blamed for the accident because he was black. He was standing over me, right in my face, yelling racial insults and threats. I honestly thought he was going to pull a gun out of the duffel bag and shoot me. I could see the two truck stop employees standing together near the door, ready to run. I was injured and could barely move, I could not defend myself. I did not want to speak with Mr. Wright, but I felt I had to do something, so I asked him if he understood he had almost killed two people. Mr. Wright continued to yell racial threats, saying "he was not concerned about killing anybody, especially white people." This went on for a few more minutes until he moved off to another part of the truck stop. I should have called 911, but I already had enough trouble as it is. It was like a nightmare and I couldn't wake up.

The tow truck driver's wife arrived at the truck stop about 8:00AM and we headed to Klamath Falls. She was a super nice person, community minded, religious and patriotic. The entire family was a big help to me when I really needed it, I will always remember that. She dropped me off at the U Haul truck rental dealer in Klamath Falls.

I told the U Haul people I needed to rent a truck because I had just been in an accident and they promptly jacked the rental rate to more than double the advertised rate. I knew I was getting ripped off, but I had no other options. Some days later, when I returned the rental truck to Hood River, OR, that U Haul dealer tacked another $100 on my credit card without my knowledge. I drove the truck back to Chiloquin, OR where I salvaged my belongings from my wrecked truck and loaded them into the U Haul rental truck. I was in a great deal of pain, unloading and loading the trucks was excruciating, but again, I had no options. I also was starting to realize how much of a financial hit I was going to take. I left for Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath Falls.

I was in significant pain; I could not tell which part of my body hurt the most. Everything I did was painful. I had X-rays, no broken bones. The medical person told me it would be a long time, if ever; before I was back to the way I was before the accident. I received no treatment for any of the injuries and was offered prescription pain medication. Since I had a concussion, I did not think it was a good idea to take pain pills. The medical person told me most of my pain was due to "old age", not being hit by a 40 ton semi truck. Less than eight hours after the accident, I started to have suspicions about what was going on. I had to park the large U Haul truck some distance from the emergency room. The walk back to the truck was the longest half mile of my life. It took me an hour to walk that distance. I got in the rental truck and headed out of Klamath Falls.

Following my visit to the Klamath Falls hospital ER, I stopped at the Klamath County Sheriff's office to report the incident at the truck stop. A Klamath County sheriff deputy told me they would take no action on the matter and that "it would be in my best interest to leave Klamath Falls." Since there were, at least, two eyewitnesses and most likely, security camera video, in light of what had happened, I thought I would be able to file a police report. The answer was "No". This was really surprising because Oregon is the whitest state in America, Klamath County may be the whitest county in the whitest state. A black guy threatening to kill a white guy, a white veteran he just ran over with a semi truck would normally be shot about thirty or forty times here. The red lights started going off and deep down inside, I knew I was in for a lot of trouble and the worst part of this real life nightmare was still to come.