Forgiveness.
That’s among the main concerns of a 32-year-old man who lost more than 10 days of his memory after getting hit from behind by a large moving truck, driven by a man who is now charged with felony hit and run related charges.
On June 8, Jason Guthrie was walking near 156th and Chandler when police say he was struck from behind by Daniel Kalloff, 53.
Despite his injuries, Guthrie says he’s glad it happened.
“I would say (Daniel), thank you,” Guthrie said. “You’ve changed my life, honestly. My life is changed forever from that night. A lot of things have clicked in my head. It changed me. I need to better my life, and I think that was a wakeup call for me.”
From his hospital bed, Guthrie is grateful to be alive and to have a new outlook on life.
“God definitely put his hand on me,” Guthrie said. “That was a huge truck. For me to actually survive it, that’s saying something.”
Guthrie says before the wreck, he was a negative person.
He says negativity is a powerful force and can destroy people.
Now, he’s a changed man.
“I would tell him, I've been through it,” Guthrie said. “I've had people hate me and I've wanted them to not hate me. I wanted to be forgiven. As hard as it was for them to do it, I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to be a hateful guy. I want to be a good guy. Not a bad dude, not like I used to be.”
His road to recovery hasn’t been easy.
He can’t remember several days before, or after being hit.
He suffered a brain bleed and needed skin grafts after his ankle suffered multiple, compound fractures.
At first he was worried about losing his leg, now he says doctors tell him he’ll likely make a full recovery.
Despite Kallhoff being drunk, three times the legal limit when he allegedly hit Guthrie, the 32-year-old says he doesn’t want Kallhoff to go back to jail.
"I hate seeing people go to jail, because jail's not fun,” Guthrie said. “It's a bad place. He made a mistake. He's never been in trouble before in his life. I'm not angry with him but, I hope he understands that he needs to compensate for the mistake that he has made"
Daniel Kallhoff is charged with fail to stop and render aid to a victim, a Class III A felony – which carries a maximum three years prison sentence and/or a $10,000 fine, and a minimum of unsupervised probation.
Guthrie says he just wants his medical bills covered.
