Navarro County DPS trooper goes home months after being hurt in crash

DALLAS - The power of will and determination was on full display Friday at the Baylor Scott & White rehab center in Dallas.

Trooper Curtis Putz left the hospital nearly 12 weeks after a crash while in the line of duty nearly killed him.

There didn’t appear to be a dry eye as the trooper walked out of Baylor Scott & White rehab center on his own.

It's been an extremely difficult journey for Putz.

He spent a total of 81 days in the hospital, and said his family and faith motivated him to do the hard work that got him released and headed back home.

With his wife and physical therapist nearby for support, Putz is walking almost entirely on his own.

It's a huge accomplishment, considering the Navarro County trooper broke his pelvis and both of his femurs in the line of duty back on January 31.

"I feel good, I feel really good. I have energy now. Do a lot of stuff on my own," he said.

Putz was driven over by his own SUV while investigating a crash on I-45 near Corsicana.

It was icy that day, and another car skid into his cruiser, which caused it to roll over him.

He was pinned for 14 minutes.

Curtis spent 43 days in the hospital before being transferred to the Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation.

For the last month, Putz has been doing physical therapy four times per day, seven days a week.

"It's that no quit attitude, like every day just go so hard. Anything we asked him to do," physical therapist Bridget Denicola said.

Denicola was part of his rehab team, which also consisted of two occupational therapists.

Putz has undergone several painful skin grafts from where the tire went over him.

Denicola said he never complained about the pain.

"He would just be like, whatever I have to do to get back to what I was doing before," she recalled.

Waiting outside was Putz’s other family, as the men and women in uniform cheered his every move.

A DPS employee was assigned to be with Putz every day at the hospital.

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Also, there were the many rehab workers who had a hand in his recovery.

His emotional wife thanked them.

"I’m so excited, thank you all so much, you all were so good with him thank you," Tosha Putz said.

She then got into the DPS cruiser with her husband for the escort back home.

Putz said he couldn't wait to get back into a familiar ride.

"I'm so excited to get into a black and white, I'm ready. I've been in one for years and years," he said. "I want to go hug each and every one of them cause they're my family too."

So what's next for Putz?

He said he plans on going to church on Sunday with his family and then he wants to go fishing.

He still has a long road to recovery, but said the end goal is to one day be back in squad car, protecting the public.