Wreck sends 2 to hospital

By Melinda L. Lucas

An accident right at the Albany city limits on Highway 6 Monday afternoon sent two local residents to the hospital, where they remained at press time with the possibility of being dismissed on Wednesday.

Adam Viertel, 40, and Cooper Edgar, 16, collided a little before 2:00 p.m., with Viertel headed south, and Edgar, an Albany High School student, turning north to go to football practice.

Both were taken by ambulance to Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene.

“It’s a terrifying feeling when you get a call from your husband at work saying your son has been in a bad accident,” said Kimberly Edgar, Cooper’s mother. “It’s even worse when you learn another vehicle was involved, and it was a family friend.” 

Edgar, who was thrown from his pickup truck, sustained cervical spine injuries, including a shattered C5 vertebra, along with multiple abrasions.

“Cooper will stay in a C collar for a long time, but his neck will hopefully heal without surgery,” said his mother. “And Adam was so occupied with Cooper’s well-being, he ignored his own pain. The kind of selflessness it must have taken for him to put his own needs aside and refuse any pain medicine (in order to stay alert for updates) is beyond comprehension.”

Viertel suffered a broken collarbone and a sternal fracture, but was hospitalized for a couple of days so his heart could be monitored because of the impact to his chest.

His wife, Sonia Viertel, made a comment that mirrored Kimberly’s, stating Monday afternoon, “The  accident was hard enough, but it was even harder to know that the other party involved was a sweet young man that we know and love dearly.”

Both Edgar and Viertel are expected to be home by the end of the week to continue recovery.