PHOENIX — A Valley teen who lost his leg in a deadly guardrail crash two months ago is back home recovering.
Jett Weinstein and his friend, Jaxson Elliot, crashed into a guardrail with a controversial history back on Feb. 4 when they were driving back from Flagstaff, Ariz. Elliot, died in the crash, and Weinstein lost his leg.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: Adolescente del valle que resultó herido en accidente mortal con una barandilla de metal en la carretera se recupera en casa
“Everything is different,” Weinstein said when talking to 12News at his home. “Brushing my teeth is different, the way I have to get water is different, the way I reach the cabinets - everything.”
Over the past two months since the crash, Weinstein moved from the hospital to an inpatient rehab facility and is now back home.
“It’s crazy,” Weinstein said. “I’ve just been thinking about the accident and I feel like I’ve lived a whole lifetime in that two months.”
Weinstein said he was in the passenger side of the vehicle sleeping when the car hit the ET-Plus guardrail.
“It was laying on me just heavy, just I remember it coming through the car like this on my lap just like,” Weinstein said motioning with his arms from the right side of his body to his left. “And I couldn’t move it.”
Weinstein said he met Elliot at school two years ago and started skiing together just this year.
“He was a funny, funny guy,” Weinstein said. “He was my ski partner - he was the only ski friend that I had. I was a snowboard guy.”
Weinstein has returned to school, goes to therapies and works to get stronger.
“Just excited to have my independence back,” Weinstein said.
Weinstein said he’s inspired by David Banks, a local amputee who also lost his right leg.
“I can't believe I'm here today,” Weinstein said. “You can't take anything small for granted anymore you know - just happy to be here.”
Still, Weinstein is planning to work to heal and get back to snowboarding with a prosthetic and fight for change too.
“I would like them all to be changed, fixed,” Weinstein said of the 4,000 plus other ET-Plus guardrails still on Arizona roads. “To be able to save people, not hurt them.”
