A Casper pastor and mechanic is facing a long recovery, laid up in a Denver-area hospital with a broken neck and hip, three broken ribs, a broken heel, shattered leg and mission teeth after a violent crash on Interstate 25 that nearly killed him.
Roger Davis, 59, told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that he still faces multiple surgeries, rehabilitation and a recovery his family expects to stretch across months.
He can't work. His children and twin sister are tag-teaming trips to Colorado to stay with him while also trying to keep his Casper business running and his bills paid in the aftermath of the crash nearly two weeks ago.
For Davis, being the guy who needs rescuing is an uncomfortable reversal.
“Shoe's on the other foot, you might say,” Davis said from his hospital room. “I'm not so used to that. I'm used to helping.”
A Wyoming Highway Patrol tow receipt shows the crash happened just before dawn on Aug. 25 on southbound I-25 near milepost 182. Davis was driving a white 2022 Chevrolet Equinox.
“Every morning I go down to Cheyenne to pick up a load of Tidbit newspapers,” explained Davis.
He was approaching the Hat Six viaduct when he spotted a man walking toward Casper along the right shoulder of the interstate.
Davis moved into the left lane to give him room. Then, as he passed beneath the viaduct, he suddenly saw a vehicle stopped in the left travel lane. Davis said his understanding is that the vehicle had struck a deer.
By the time he saw the car, there was nowhere to go.
'Folded Like An Accordion'
The last thing Davis remembers before impact was the dashboard coming straight at his face.
The first thing he remembers after the crash is realizing he couldn't get himself out of his car. A first responder was beside him, telling him not to move.
Rescuers worked a board underneath his battered body while the Jaws of Life went to work on the driver's side of his vehicle.
“One thing I remember is how the driver's door was folded like an accordion,” Davis said. “And it's like, ‘Wow, that was an impact.'”
Hours later, Davis' daughter Becky got the phone call families dread.
“It was, like, horrible,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “My heart stopped.”
The emergency room in Casper informed her that father had been in a serious wreck. He was stable, she was told, but doctors were preparing to fly him to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colorado, with serious injuries.
“I was grateful that it wasn't a call that said, ‘You don't have a dad,’” she said.
Then the rest sank in.
“The fact that he was having to be flown to another hospital — that told me that his crash was very severe,” she said.
Becky said her father suffered a broken heel, three broken ribs, a broken hip and a broken neck. His other leg had an open tibia fracture, meaning the broken bone had torn through the skin. He also lost most of his teeth.
At one point doctors had to intubate him, Becky said, and the family has worried about his lungs properly expanding and keeping his oxygen levels where they need to be.
“Both sides of my body [were] basically crushed,” Davis said.
The last two weeks "have been really rough with dealing with the pain and working with the injuries,” he added.
Roger Davis, a Casper pastor and mechanic, is facing a long recovery, laid up in a Denver-area hospital with a broken neck and hip, three broken ribs, a broken heel, shattered leg and mission teeth after a violent crash on Interstate 25 that nearly killed him. (Courtesy) 
Roger Davis, a Casper pastor and mechanic, is facing a long recovery, laid up in a Denver-area hospital with a broken neck and hip, three broken ribs, a broken heel, shattered leg and mission teeth after a violent crash on Interstate 25 that nearly killed him. (Courtesy) 
Roger Davis, a Casper pastor and mechanic, is facing a long recovery, laid up in a Denver-area hospital with a broken neck and hip, three broken ribs, a broken heel, shattered leg and mission teeth after a violent crash on Interstate 25 that nearly killed him. (Courtesy)
‘If You Have His Number’
“If you meet him, you won't forget meeting him,” Becky said to describe her dad. “He is a very kind soul.”
Davis works as a mobile mechanic, although Becky sometimes wonders how he ever makes money doing it.
“He charges dirt cheap half the time,” she said, adding that sometimes he'll simply tell a customer, “'just pay me what you think.'”
Becky has tried to convince him otherwise.
“You need to, like, pay yourself,” she tells him, but even if they can't afford it, he'll rescue the stranded driver anyway.
“If you have his number, you have someone who will come save you at any point, because that's just who he is,” Becky said. “It doesn't matter if he knows you or not.”
Davis preaches at Glenrock Christian Church and has an online ministry. He writes out his sermons and emails them to people who ask to receive them.
He's also the owner and publisher behind Central Wyoming Tidbits, the free paper found on counters and racks around the region.
The Casper edition serves Casper, Douglas, Glenrock, Rolling Hills, Wheatland and Glendo.
Its stated philosophy: “Service, Hard Work and Good Relations.”
Davis also writes a Publisher's Corner column.
In a July edition published before the crash, Davis urged his readers to listen and offer help before criticizing others, then ended with his familiar sign-off:
“Take care and we'll talk to ya next week.”
The Family Tag Team
Right now, there isn't much “next week” in the Davis family's plans. There is today, then tomorrow, and then whatever comes after that.
Becky, her brother, and Davis' twin sister have been taking turns making the trip to Colorado to stay with him.
She has two young boys and a life that still has to keep moving in Wyoming. So do the other members of the family.
At the same time, Davis is self-employed.
If he isn't working, there isn't an employer continuing to run the business for him, so his family is doing that as well.
“We're now managing [Tidbits] and trying to make sure his bills get paid,” Becky said.
At this stage, it's too early to know when he’ll be able to come home, and Davis said it could be at least another month or “maybe longer.”
A Place To Come Home
Davis doesn't have health insurance, Becky said, leaving his family staring at the cost of a catastrophic crash while his rehabilitation has barely begun.
She worries especially about what happens after the surgeries.
Getting her dad through them is one battle but getting him walking again is another.
The family also has to keep the rest of Davis' life from collapsing while his body heals. He still has housing costs. Bills for utilities still arrive. His business still needs attention.
Becky wants to make sure that whenever her dad is finally discharged and able to return to Wyoming, there's still a life waiting for him.
She set up a GoFundMe to help pay medical and rehabilitation expenses and give him “a path forward that helps him heal in the best way possible and least painful.”
For the mechanic who has spent years telling people who couldn't afford him not to worry about it, that means accepting something he's much less comfortable with: help.
‘The People That Have Stood By Me’
He doesn't have some grand explanation for what happened to him. “It's what it is,” Davis said.
When Davis pictures getting back to Casper, there are plenty of things waiting: cars to fix, Tidbits to publish, and sermons to preach.
When Cowboy State Daily asked what he's most looking forward to, Davis didn't mention any of them.
“Just getting back and meeting the people — the people that have stood by me for so long and have helped me out,” he said.
From a hospital bed nearly 300 from home, the pastor said that, “I really appreciate the people's outpouring and well wishes."
Friends, relatives and strangers have sent prayers and well wishes. Others have donated money to help with the long recovery.
“Quite a few have stepped up to the plate and offered monetary funds,” Davis said.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
