An Irving firefighter who suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was struck by a wrong-way driver on Texas 183 while responding to a drunken-driving crash on Dec. 6 was released from the hospital Thursday afternoon.
"The outpouring of support for Aaron, his family, and the Irving Fire Department has been overwhelming," said Irving Police. "Please continue to keep Aaron in your thoughts and prayers during his road to recovery."
Firefighter Aaron Donohue was in the "hot zone" early Sunday morning, working in the westbound lanes of Texas 183 where he and other rescue personnel were responding to a drunken-driving crash.
As the car plowed through the crash scene, Donohue was struck and, according to Conley, "thrown a pretty good height and distance from where he was."
Fellow firefighters rushed to his side and found him unconscious and not breathing. Conley said Donohue regained his breath and firefighters did an assessment and transported him to the hospital as they would anyone else.
"By the hand of God there was not one single broken bone in firefighter Donohue," Conley said, who added that there was, however, evidence of a traumatic brain injury the severity of which is not fully known.
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Irving police identified the driver of the car Sunday as 23-year-old Yajaira Estrada Calderon, of Arlington. Calderon, police said Monday, didn't stop right away but was stopped a short time after the crash. She said she thought she was headed to Arlington, but she was headed east toward Dallas.
Police said they aren't yet sure how long Calderon had been traveling in the wrong direction, but that she was headed eastbound in the westbound lanes before Esters Road, where traffic diverted from 183 for the original crash scene near Story Road was being directed back on the highway.
Calderon is facing a charge of intoxication assault with serious bodily injury to a firefighter, a 2nd-degree felony. It's not clear if she's obtained an attorney.
