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Park Tavern crash victim recalls experience
Tegan D’Albani was one of the victims when Steven Bailey allegedly drunkenly crashed into the patio of Park Tavern in St. Louis Park in September. FOX 9’s Maury Glover spoke with her during an exclusive interview to recall her harrowing experience, and learn about her road to recovery now.
(FOX 9) - From the bruises on her arms to the brace on her knee, it's clear Tegan D'Albani has been through a traumatic experience.
While she is happy to be home with her family, she is frustrated that she's confined to a wheelchair and doesn't know when she'll be able to walk again.
"It's very surreal. You're like, how did this happen? How did I go from having drinks with my friends and dinner to laying in a hospital bed," said D'Albani.
D'Albani says she and four of her co-workers at Methodist Hospital had just gotten seated on the patio at the Park Tavern on Labor Day weekend to celebrate one of them starting graduate school, when D'Albani turned and saw a car headed right for them.
The registered nurse says the next thing she knew, she was being thrown by the impact and then felt a table or chair leg jammed into her back with blood everywhere and people screaming.
"I didn't think I was going to die but I was afraid I was going to die and I was afraid what that was going to mean for my husband, getting that phone call," said D'Albani.
D'Albani remembers being rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center with a broken left leg, dislocated right knee and several pelvic and spinal fractures.
It wasn't until a day or two later she learned her co-worker Gabe Harvey was one of two people who didn't survive their injuries.
"I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around why he was taken and why some of us were injured more than others, and how vastly different our injuries were considering we were all at the same table," said D'Albani.
Prosecutors say a repeat drunk driver, Steven Bailey, was allegedly intoxicated behind the wheel again when he hit D'Albani and her friends.
She's upset he has been released from jail on half a million dollars bail and is allowed to go to a treatment facility while he waits to go on trial.
"I hope he's thinking about every single one of us that he injured because I think about him every single day that I can't stand up and I can't walk and I can't go back to work," said D'Albani.
D'Albani says her doctors believe she will walk again but they don't know how long it will take.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help her family with the unexpected expenses associated with this.
If you'd like to help, click here.