MESA, Ariz. — Officer Sean Stoddard stopped his patrol vehicle on the US-60 near Greenfield Road to move a ladder out of the road.
That's when the now-retired Mesa police officer was violently rear-ended. The collision caused a traumatic brain injury that Stoddard is still recovering from nearly three years later.
“I wasn't able to walk or talk and I was in a wheelchair for a while,” Stoddard said. “They had to reteach me everything: teach me colors, shapes, numbers, letters, everything. And I'm still in therapy. Years later.”
Stoddard spoke on Tuesday as part of the Maricopa Association of Governments’ Secure Your Load Day. It’s a day meant to remind drivers to take a little extra time to ensure loads are secured properly.
Twenty-two people in Arizona have died since 2019 because of debris on the highway.
“Think about someone else,” Stoddard cautioned. “That's very selfish to not check the load. To take a moment and prevent a tragedy."
The injuries he sustained in the collision forced Stoddard into retirement from the Mesa Police Department – a job he said he loved.
“It's an honor to be a police officer. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to be a police officer with the Mesa Police Department and to be a police officer in the military.” Stoddard said.
At the launch of the Secure Your Load campaign, Stoddard’s old Ford Crown Victoria police car rests, crumpled, on a trailer to demonstrate the power of the impact. To Stoddard’s father, it’s a reminder of the emotions that swept over him that day.
“We get a call from his wife saying he was in an accident, and that he was unresponsive,” said Gary Stoddard, Sean Stoddard's father. “And when I heard ‘unresponsive’, I thought we'd lost him. So, we're driving to the hospital, and I looked at my wife and I said, ‘I don't know what to do’. We thought we were going to say goodbye to him.”
Don't trash Arizona
Don’t Trash Arizona is a program implemented by the Maricopa Association of Governments, partnering with the Arizona Department of Transportation, to keep roadways clear of trash and debris. The program is funded by Prop. 400, a half-cent sales tax approved in 2004.
Prop. 400 needs renewal in 2025.
According to Jack Seller, chair of the Transportation Policy Committee, funding to remove debris from the roadway may be coming to an end without legislative action.
“MAG plans on continue this funding in the next round of transportation investments, if voters are allowed the opportunity to vote on a proposed extension of the tax that is still pending enabling legislation.” Sellers announced Tuesday at the launch of the campaign.
MAG is trying to get the message across that without that funding, there will be more collisions like the one Sean Stoddard experienced. Stoddard still attends therapy for his injuries and runs Archangel, a nonprofit that assists veterans and first responders suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress.
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