A Speake (AL) Folunteer firefighter was injured yesterday while working a wreck scene at Alabama 157 and Alabama 36. Firefighter Kenny Gillespie, 50, was in the emergency room at Decatur General Hospital on Tuesday night.
“He’s in a lot of pain right now,” his wife, Shelia, said Tuesday night. “They’ve done X-rays, and they think his ribs are broken, and he’s got a place on his leg where I guess he skidded.”
The wreck occurred about 2 p.m. and involved a car and an 18-wheeler. Firefighter Kenny Rutherford said a man who sustained a cut on his head in the wreck was the only other person injured.
Firefighter Gillespie was slowing traffic when a blue Jeep approached at an excessive rate of speed. When Kenny Gillespie motioned for the driver to slow down, the driver reportedly stopped, rolled the window down and used profanity before speeding away. FF Gillespie had his hand on the vehicle door when the motorist drove off.
Firefighter Kenny Rutherford said he was with a wreck victim when Gillespie was injured and wasn’t sure how Gillespie was thrown by the vehicle. He said he heard yelling and saw Gillespie flip in the air and hit the pavement. The driver of the Jeep was stopped by sheriffs deputies at Cowboys off Alabama 157 in Moulton. It wasn’t clear Tuesday if he would face criminal charges.
“We’re still not through with the investigation,” Lawrence County Sheriff Gene Mitchell said. “We’ve interviewed the driver, and we’ll get it together and get with the DA and see what charges, if any, should be filed.”
The name of the driver of the Jeep wasn’t available Tuesday.
Shelia Gillespie said her husband has been a volunteer firefighter for about 20 years.
