A drunk driver left him paralyzed at eight and police say another took his life while he was sleeping in his South Austin home. This morning friends remembered the life of Randy Williams.
At eight years old, Randy Williams had his life stripped away in an instant. A drunk driver transformed him into a quadriplegic, only able to communicate by blinking his eyes. His body failed him, but his mind was intact. He was aware of the reason for his condition.
"It would've been real easy to turn over in the bed and shut the world out and say I don't want to do this anymore. Instead he did and he reached out to everyone,” said Susan Riley, his teacher who two years after the crash, became his legal guardian.
Williams was a fighter. He competed in the Special Olympics and graduated to a standing ovation at Manor High School.
"He had great impact on everyone that knew him,” said Riley.
Then, Williams was taken away just as he came into Riley’s life--by a drunk driver.
"It is definitely like losing a child and a special one at that,” she said.
On June 12th, police say 19-year-old Jose Luis Sanchez, who had been drinking and was speeding, clipped a motorcyclist and crashed into the group home for the disabled where 43-year-old Williams was sleeping. He was pinned in bed. The impact broke both of his legs, his hip and an ankle. At the hospital, doctors also found that his brain was hemorrhaging.
It was too much for his body to handle. He died five days later.
"Lightning does strike twice I guess,” said caretaker Diana Gale.
On Thursday, friends held a memorial service in his honor.
"He did not live as a victim. He had an indomitable spirit of love, unconditional love. Taught me, inspired me,” said Gale.
They passed around balloons writing one last thought to Williams as they prepared to say goodbye. And with the release of the balloons, together they set him free.
"We need to wake up and we to not turn our heads and not say, 'Well, it was tragic, but it's not going to happen to me' 'cause I've said that and it did,” said Riley.
The motorcyclist injured in the crash suffered a broken leg.
Sanchez has been charged with two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury and failure to stop and render aid.
