'He should be compensated': Family reaches out for more answers on car accident

SOUTH COFFEYVILLE, OKLA — Sara Kessler is the paternal aunt of 18 year-old Gage.

While driving to Tulsa on September 25, he and his friends got into an accident.

According to them, a hatchet fell of a white truck in front of them and flew into the car's front windshield, hitting Gage's left side of his skull.

He went into emergency surgery and will have to have another operation to replace his left orbital socket.

“My nephew is going to be impaired from this, and so because of that, he should be compensated," said Kessler. "I don't think it was intentional, but I still do want to make sure, at the very least, that the insurance company that trucker had is held responsible because even though I wouldn't say it was intentional, it is at fault because it is their responsibility to check all of their devices to make sure that they're secured, and obviously that one was not."

Kessler said she reached out to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) to see if anyone could help with tracing the driver who lost their ratchet.

She said she ran into issues while speaking to the patrol man who was on-scene at the time of the accident.

“His basic response was no offense, but how do you expect me to find this guy or this truck? And I just, you know, gave him ideas, and he just basically told me I have no intentions on doing that," said Kessler. "Those weren't his exact words, but he was like, you know, basically. And I responded to him and said, well, if this was a murder scene or a murder investigation, they would be all over the place trying to find this truck, and my nephew could have died. I mean, this was a a horrible accident that he's going to have to live with the effects from this accident forever, and he just didn't care.”

2 News reached out OHP to see if they could provide any clarity on any issues involving fault and compensation.

We haven’t heard back as of yet.

According to Oklahoma Law, if a crash occurs because of a flying object, the responsible party’s insurer (or the party themselves) can be sued under Oklahoma’s Tort and Negligence Rules.

Things like police reports, witness statements and any kind of evidence is needed to prove fault.

“There is video evidence showing what hit him," said Kessler. "And the kids said that it was 100% a white truck.”

While Kessler did say it was uncertain what kind of truck it was, each of the witnesses said they were sure the vehicle in front of them that lost its ratchet was a white truck.

We will make sure to keep everyone updated if we hear back from OHP or if we receive any new info.

For those who would like to help Gage and his family with medical costs, Kessler has organized a GoFundMe.