Watching a car come barreling toward you doesn’t create the panic you might think. Just ask Gary Kostbade.
Kostbade, 49, of Chesterton, was injured after a 60 year-old Hammond woman, Linda Tarver, drove her 1999 Toyota 4Runner through the front doors at the U.S. Post Office’s 5530 Sohl Ave. branch Jan. 2. Kostbade, the controller for Hammond construction firm Golf Acquisition Group, was dropping off mail for the day around 11:15 a.m. and was heading back to the office when he saw the woman pull up.
Realizing pretty quickly her vehicle wasn’t stopping, he recalled feeling like he was in a movie. But it wasn’t fear so much as it was disbelief at first.
“You see the images in your mind, and you remember that they’re terrifying, but all I was thinking at the time was, ‘My God, this is happening!'” he said. “The thought that you’re going to die didn’t occur to me until they took me to the hospital. At that point, they thought I was going into shock.”
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The accident crushed Kostbade’s leg below the knee in what’s called a tibia/fibula plateau fracture. He was first sent to St. Margaret Mercy’s Northlake campus in Hammond but asked to be transferred to Lakeshore Bone and Joint, which is closer to his home.
Doctors put a steel plate and pins to shore up his leg; complications from a blood clot delayed his physical therapy for three weeks, he said. He also had a huge bruise on his elbow and glass in his stomach.
So now, there’s a lot of hurrying up and waiting. Relegated to walking with a walker or hopping around on one foot, Kostbade has been doing a lot of sitting since the accident. His work and friends of the family have been a godsend.
“(Golf Acquisition) told me not to worry about anything, but I’m doing some work. It’s a blessing because there’s nothing to do,” he said. “You never realize what people go though when there’s an accident. I’m stopped for three months.”
Then there’s the trip to Hawaii he and his family were planning on taking during his kids’ spring break. Whether Kostbade is released to travel remains to be seen, but even if he is, it might not be worth it.
“I know the kids will have a blast, but I don’t know if Ijust want to be sitting on the beach without joining them. We’re trying to decide,” he said.
The police report provided by the HammondPolice Department indicated that Tarver accidentally stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. Hammond Police Public Information Officer Lt. Rich Hoyda said she wasn’t charged in the accident.
Kostbade said he doesn’t remember much about the accident immediately surrounding the event, just that he was pinned under the vehicle and that it hit the back wall of the building. It might be fun to see, though.
“I’d love to see the video of it,” he said. “It’s a very weird experience, and I really kind of want to get back to my life. Sitting here is not very exciting.”