Montgomery Car Dealership Donates Van to Injured Police Officer Carlos Taylor
Some great news for Montgomery police officer Carlos Taylor and his family. You may remember he was severely injured in a 2017 car wreck and for years, the Taylor family has been raising money for a wheelchair accessible van to help get Carlos to and from appointments. Until Wednesday, the family has had to call an ambulance every time Carlos needed to leave the house.
That has all changed, thanks to Stivers Ford in Montgomery.
Tears of joy across the Stivers Ford parking lot Wednesday morning. It’s been years in the making: to get Officer Carlos Taylor a car that his family can transport him in. The family arrived at the dealership with idea what was in store, “We won’t be late for appointments anymore, Angela Taylor, Carlos’ mother said. “We won’t have to stay at the ER all night when Carlos is done in three hours.”
Taylor graduated president of his class in the police academy. Here is a part of his speech: “When we all first met, I told them this would not be an easy journey, and only thing that would stop you from achieving your goals is yourself… That as long has they kept their heads up and stayed positive, they could do it.”
Nearly two years later, 22-year-old Carlos Taylor was critically injured in a car crash on duty. The crash report states he was travelling south on Woodley Road responding to a call with officers pursuing two men with a gun. That’s when Officer Taylor was involved in a collision– changing his and his family’s lives forever, “Being able to simply take him anywhere anytime we want,” his sister Mahogany Taylor said. “Going to the park, giving him a sense of being back in the community.. Try to get as much normalcy back as we can.”
District Attorney Daryl Bailey says he made a promise to the Taylor family three years ago that he is finally able to fulfill, “I remember vividly meeting his family in the hospital shortly after this accident. One of the things I promised them, not just for me but also for the citizens of Montgomery that I would never forget them… That we would be there and whatever they needed, we would provide it.”
“I want to say ‘thank you, thank you, thank you. God is so good,'” Carlos’ mother said.
A representative with Alabama Wounded Blue says all of the money they have already raised for Carlos will be put in a trust fund to be distributed to him as needed.
The van is being sent to Indianapolis where a company has volunteered to make the van wheel-chair accessible at no charge. The Taylor family will be able to use the van when it’s finished in six to eight weeks.
