"You Guys Saved My Life"
A motorcycle crash victim got to say thank you to the firefighters who saved his life
By DIANA GONZALEZ
Updated 8:20 AM EDT, Thu, Nov 5, 2009
Mom always tought us to say thank you when someone does something nice for us. And Rafael Rios got to do just that today.
Tears of gratitude streamed down the 22-year-old's face as he met the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue team at Station 31 in North Miami Beach.
"You guys saved my life. Thank you all," said Rios as he hugged each firefighter that went out on his rescue call on July 4rth.
On the corner of Miami Gardens Drive and Northeast 19th Avenue, a car made an improper turn, crashing into Rafael's motorcycle.
"He had his helmet on but had a lot of head trauma, he was in bad shape," recalled firefighter Ricardo Rodriguez. He described the accident scene as chaotic and said "it's a miracle he is walking and talking like normal."
Risos' passenger, his wife's cousin, was also critically injured and survived.
400 to 500 calls a week stream in at this particular fire station. Rarely do they hear from the patients they transport to area hospitals.
Rodriguez said he's been a firefighter for 16 years and this is only the second time someone has come back to say thank you.
Rios has returned to the scene of the accident and said "it's just a bad feeling, you know, to go back to the same place where you almost died.
But there were no bad feelings at fire station 31 as Rafael got a special tour and was surrounded by the first responders who came to his rescue exactly four months ago.
First Published: Nov 4, 2009 4:11 PM EDT
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