Family of surviving driver speaks out
Thomas Czaban, 45, is expected to survive the horrific Halfmoon crash that claimed the life of a Halfmoon teen, but he remains in critical condition at Albany Medical Center. Czaban's two daughters knew Taylor Mosher and the Mechanicville community will now have to pick up the pieces together. Our Solomon Syed spoke with them outside of the hospital.
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ALBANY, N.Y. -- Straining to find the words, Helena Czaban said, "It's just a lot to handle right now."
Helena Czaban and her sister Brianna knew Tuesday night's crash victim, Taylor Mosher; the girls went to high school together. But what they didn't know, they were about to find out. Their dad, Thomas Czaban, 45, frantically called them shortly after p.m.
"He called me, screaming and crying," said Helena. "He said he was stuck in the truck and somebody hit him head-on."
Thomas Czaban was the other driver.
"My heart just dropped," said Brianna.
Czaban had to be freed with the jaws of life and was rushed to Albany Medical Center. He suffered a broken sternum, broken ribs, a cracked vertebrae, a broken pelvis and his left leg is completely shattered. Yet his daughters say his first instinct was to worry about their old high school classmate.
"She came into my lane, I just didn't know what to do," said Helena, recalling what her father said when they first visited him in the ICU. "He was like, 'Her poor family,' and that was his biggest concern, it was her."
As are those across the Mechanicville community as it deals with the second fatal crash this year involving a teen driver. In February, 18-year-old Travis Lloyd Taylor lost control of his car and struck a telephone pole. This accident happened on Johnson Road, not far from where Mosher died Tuesday night.
The Czabans say they'll be there every step of the way to help their father, and the Moshers, heal.
"I lost a classmate and someone I graduated with, and now my dad is in such critical condition that it's hard not knowing what's going to happen," said Helena.
Tom Czaban is heavily sedated due to the excruciating pain and is undergoing surgery to insert stabilizing screws in his leg, beginning what will be a long road to recovery.