Driver thanks pair who saved his life
Georgetown honors father, son who assisted victim after accident.
GEORGETOWN— It took almost four months for Tim Kubatzky to look at photos of what happened to him on Jan. 23. But he wanted some clarity on the accident that led to the Georgetown police and fire departments this week honoring the two men who saved his life.
The 55-year-old fundraiser for the University of Texas Law School was driving home in the evening Jan. 23 when his car hit a patch of ice on a Texas 130 bridge near Georgetown.
“The last thing I remember was going off the shoulder of the highway,” Kubatzky said.
When he regained consciousness, he was suspended upside down in the driver’s seat, still strapped into his seat belt. His car had flipped off the end of a bridge, fallen about 20 feet and landed on its roof in a grassy ditch. The roof had collapsed. The steering wheel had gone through the windshield. And Kubatzky couldn’t move.
The first thing he heard was people walking around. “I yelled ‘Help!’ ” Kubatzky said.
Billy Ayers Jr. answered. Ayers, an auto mechanic, said he was driving down Coun- ty Road 104 to return a movie DVD when his headlights swept over Kubatzky’s car. It was in a remote area that could not be seen by cars driving on Texas 130, he said.
Ayers Jr. said when he rushed over to Kubatzky’s car, “all I saw was his arm because the car was crushed too badly to see him.”
Ayers called 911 and also started talking to Kubatzky. “I asked him how old he was and what his name (was) to try to keep him calm.” Kubatzky said he remembered snippets of the conversation.
‘I doubt anybody would have seen me, and it was freezing out there. I probably wouldn’t have made it.’ Tim Kubatzky, whose carwas spotted in a remote area
The auto mechanic also called his father, Billy Ayers Sr., to come help. The elder Ayers, who lived a few blocks away, arrived with pry bars. The father and son then tried to get Kubatzky out of the car but were unsuccessful.
“That car couldn’t have been more than 30 inches tall with the roof caved in,” said Billy Ayers Sr., an electrical contractor and a former policeman. Time wasn’t their only enemy.
It was also about 25 degrees outside. “I laid on that icy grass talking to him (Kubatzky) and worrying about him being cold,” said Billy Ayers Sr.
The Georgetown Fire Department, which was swamped that icy night with dozens of calls about wrecks, arrived at 7:30 p.m., said Georgetown Fire Chief John Sullivan. The firefighters freed Kubatzky from the car using metal cutting tools.
Kubatzky had 12 spine fractures, three or four broken ribs, a punctured lung and a partially severed ear, he said. He spent two weeks in hospitals and then wore a brace for his spine for three months, he said.
Kubatzky said he believes the Ayerses saved his life. “I doubt anybody would have seen me, and it was freezing out there,” he said. “I probably wouldn’t have made it without them.”
“I felt relieved and glad I was able to help,” said Billy Ayers Sr.
Kubatzky is working full time from home, but he is still unable to turn his head enough to drive on the highway, he said. He is also having some numbness and tingling in his back and arms but said he expects to fully recover.
The Ayerses received certificates of recognition on Tuesday night from the Georgetown Fire Department and the Georgetown Police Department. Kubatzky and his wife, Kathy, also wanted to thank the father-and-son good Samaritans.
The couple treated them to a steak dinner.