Auto dealership helps veteran in need of transport

Omaha amputee required a way to get to hospital

J.T. Law, a 68-year-old Air Force veteran and amputee, had been trying to get a car.

The engine gasket on his old Tahoe blew on July 31. It had been too expensive for him to replace but also too expensive for him to buy a new car. On top of that, no bank would help him get it financed. That was, until he came across a particularly helpful dealership in Denver.

“I can’t afford much living off my disability, you know,” he said.

Law served for 4½ years starting in 1969. “Oh God, I was everywhere,” he said, rattling off Guam, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Australia and Taiwan.

A year and a half ago, the doctor cut off his leg. He said it was a combination of everything: shrapnel, diabetes, clogging arteries, smoking.

Living in Omaha, Neb., he needed a car to get to the hospital.

“To a guy — well, to anybody — losing a leg,” he said, “I would’ve given my arm in a heartbeat but my leg.”‘

So he hitched a ride with a church organization to Denver, heading to Levi’s Auto Sales on West Colfax Avenue several blocks east of Sheridan Boulevard.

Law said the dealership, which sells used cars, gave him the help he had been searching for. The shop worked with him to finance a 2007 Hummer H2, ran a test on the engine for free and gave him a deal on the tires — $800 instead of $1,200.

Levi Leviyev, the general manager, said they took Law to a restaurant to grab some lunch while the tires were put on and made sure the spare was set for the drive back to Nebraska.

“He’s a veteran and he has a leg amputated,” Leviyev said. “Out of courtesy to our veterans, we help them out.”

He said the shop has helped out veterans a couple of times back in the day, adding that they’re more than welcome to stop by.

Law said he was grateful. So grateful, in fact, that he insisted on a story.

“All you hear about in the newspaper or on the news on TV is bad stuff,” Law said. “You don’t hear too much about things uplifting.”