MANSFIELD (1080 KRLD) - A Mansfield police officer injured in a motorcycle crash earlier this week has lost his left leg as a result.
Ofc. Randy Watson was riding his personal motorcycle on his way to work at around 6:30 Tuesday morning when he was hit by a pickup truck on FM 2738 in Johnson County.
"It was truly a miracle that Randy survived," says Mansfield Police Chief Tracy Aaron.
Aaron posted the department's Facebook page that the driver who hit Watson was trying to pass a school bus in a no-passing zone.
"That is someone making a split-second terrible decision that they're never going to be able to take back," Chief Aaron said in an interview with KRLD.
Watson skidded several hundred feet before coming to a stop in a ditch.
Chief Aaron says two people at the scene saved Watson's life.
"One was a veteran Marine, and another one was a paramedic out of Alvarado," says Aaron. "And both of those guys applied a tourniquet, and that literally saved his life."
He was airlifted to JPS Hospital in Fort Worth, where doctors had to amputate his left leg.
"It literally hit on the left-hand side of the motorcycle, of course where his leg was at," Aaron says. "That's where it took the brunt of the damage."
Watson is a 26-year police veteran, with the last 23 years spent at the Mansfield Police Department, and serves as its lead gun range master.
Aaron has had an opportunity to talk to his injured officer recently.
"He's absolutely in really good spirits," says Aaron. "As a matter of fact, he called one of my assistant chiefs yesterday, to make sure that the range repairs were being made appropriately."
Chief Tracy Aaron says despite a long road to recovery ahead, including needing two additional surgeries, Watson plans to return to duty with the help of a prosthetic leg.
In the meantime, Aaron says Watson and his family face the loss of his duty income during his long recovery process, as well as additional expenses.
"Getting his house ready to receive him when he gets home -- there's going to have to be some alterations that obviously," says Aaron, "and then the same thing for his vehicle."
The department is partnering with Back The Blue HQ to raise money for Watson's family. (LINK: https://backthebluehq.com)
As for the driver who hit him, DPS says Gustavo Pizana, 28, of Alvarado is charged with disregarding a no-passing zone and passing with insufficient clearance.