‘Money came flying out everywhere’

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When Roger Kugler went to pick up his brother-in-law from the airport last Friday, he didn’t expect to be picking up cash along U.S. Highway 90A on his way back.

“Talk about surreal,” Kugler said after he and Jim Mest, his brother-in-law, tended to an injured guard in the back of a Brinks armored truck that had apparently hydroplaned and ran off the road during Friday afternoon’s rainstorm. “When the guard opened the door, money came flying out everywhere.”

Kugler and Mest found themselves unlikely first responders to the accident, which Kugler said resulted in the driver of the truck and its guard being injured.

“We were coming back from the airport in San Antonio, almost home, about three miles out of town,” Kugler said. “It’s raining. All of a sudden, this Brinks armored truck in front of us, out of nowhere, starts hydroplaning. He ran off the right side of the road, and bounced up and down like a bucking rhino. We pulled over behind it and got out.”

Kugler said after a few moments, the guard, who was riding in the back, opened the door, releasing a torrent of cash that whooshed through the air.

“When we opened the back door, dollar bills started flying out, literally,” Kugler continued. “[It] seemed like that truck bounced so hard it broke the [cash] bricks loose. After we bandaged up the guard, we started picking up the bills, all of ‘em. That truck slammed so hard, we had to pick cash out of the rivets.

“Then we made [darn] sure we put every single bill back inside,” he emphasized.

According to Kugler, the guard sustained a head injury and was bleeding, and, having no proper first aid equipment until EMS arrived, bandaged him with his shirt.

“We were able to open up the back door and get to the guard,” Kugler said. “He was literally shaken up, if you will, from bouncing up and down inside the truck. His head was bleeding, but he was still conscious. So I took off my shirt and wrapped it around his head. The ambulance showed up pretty quick after that.”

However, Kugler and Mest were unable to get the driver out.

“When we tried to open the driver’s door, it was locked, obviously,” Kugler said. “And he was unconscious inside. And then EMS arrived, and we went home.

“I would akin the chances of something like that happening to the chances of winning the lottery,” Kugler said. “But seriously, I hope those guys made it okay.”

Police scanner reports indicated that one man was taken to Gonzales Memorial Hospital, and the other was airlifted to a metro hospital. No official report from Texas Department of Public Safety or Gonzales County Sheriff’s Department was available as of press time.

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