Gypsum tow truck driver facing a long road to recovery after Jan. 5 accident near Wolcott
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
Alex Salgado is a big, strong young man. He’s convinced that’s what saved him the night of Jan. 5.
Salgado, 22, has been recovering at his mother’s home in Gypsum since Jan. 30 after spending more than three weeks at Denver Health hospital. He suffered pelvic fractures, abdominal punctures and other internal injuries when he was trapped between his tow truck and a Colorado State Patrol cruiser that night near Wolcott.
A GoFundMe page has been established to help Alex Salgado pay for medical and other expenses.
Salgado was at the scene of an accident with the Colorado State Patrol helping another tow truck driver. That vehicle had been hit by a Ford F-250. The patrol vehicle was then struck by a Jeep, and Salgado was pinned between the front bumper of the patrol vehicle and the flatbed of his tow truck.
Despite the injuries, Salgado remains in good spirits. But while he’s had close calls in the past, and has been drawn to driving tow trucks since he was a teen, he’s now re-thinking his career choices.
“This was my first time in a hospital,” he said. “It was my first time breaking a bone.”
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Salgado has been driving tow trucks since he was a teen. He started in storage yards. He said the men on his mom’s side of the family drive dump trucks and operate heavy equipment, so he’s been around those machines for much of his life.
As a teen, his mother was dating a driver for a local tow company, who invited him out on some recovery jobs. He spent a night working Vail Pass and was drawn to the job.
Connecting with Big Steve
Salgado soon linked up with Steve Carver, owner of Big Steve’s towing, and has been working with him for the past few years.
“He’s like family to us,” Carver said of Salgado. Carver said he calls Salgado nearly every day to check in.
But now, Salgado is questioning whether he wants to keep working on the other side of the white line of of the highway.
For tow truck drivers, that white line between the travel lanes and the road’s shoulder is the “barrier of us going home of not” he said. “That’s how we all feel,” he added. “We all live on that white line.”
Carver understands completely. He’s been in the towing and recovery business a long time, and said he still enjoys it. Still, he’s had his own share of close calls. Carver was recently in his company’s big wrecker, helping with chain law enforcement on Vail Pass on a nasty night. That night, just after midnight, that big rig was hit head-on, with Carver in the cab.
“It’s a war zone up there — everyone’s in a hurry,” Carver said.
That’s why Salgado is questioning whether to return to driving a tow truck, thinking he might want to own his own semi.
The slow days of recovery
But recovery comes first.
His spirits remain strong, but his days right now are fairly quiet.
He moves around his mom’s apartment as he’s able, and his law enforcement friends are frequent visitors. The day of this phone interview, he was expecting a visit from Trooper Cecil Gaddy, who was also injured in that Jan. 5 accident.
A lot of Salgado’s friends — 90% by his reckoning — are in the State Patrol, he said, and many come visit. “They’re still part of my family, and most of them live down here in Gypsum,” he said.
As his recovery continues, Salgado has plenty of time to consider the next chapters in his life. It’s likely he’ll continue to help people, something Carver said is part of his makeup.
“He’d help us do anything — in fact, he would help anyone, he’s that kind of young man,” Carver said.
Whatever the future holds, Carver said he and his wife, Christie “will support him in whatever he decides.”
And as Salgado thinks about his next steps, he believes he’s been given a gift.
“God has given me a second opportunity — I don’t want to mess it up,” he said.
