By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Country singer and Eastwood grad Brent Lowry has the makings of a country song in the crash that caved in his truck earlier this year.
The song would be about second chances – thanks to his safety belt.
Lowry was headed home from his part-time job at a horse farm on April 30, when he came upon stopped traffic on Interstate 280. He swerved to miss a stopped semi truck, but rear-ended the vehicle.
“The whole right side of my truck was gone,” Lowry said. “It was pretty violent.”
First responders had to use the Jaws of Life to get Lowry out of his pickup. But even though his truck was all crumpled up, he walked away from the crash.
“I just had a bloody nose and fat lip,” he said.
“There’s a country song in there,” said Lowry, who had been touring across the U.S. with his “real country” music before COVID-19 hit.
“After the crash, I knew I had to work harder on my music,” said Lowry, who graduated from Eastwood in 2003.
But on Friday, Lowry was working on convincing others to buckle up when they get behind the wheel. The Ohio State Patrol presented him with a “Saved by the Belt” certificate.
Lt. Angel Burgos showed photos of Lowry’s truck after the crash.
“Thankfully, since he was wearing a seatbelt, his life was saved,” Burgos said.
“We always get folks who want to give that counter argument,” questioning the value of seatbelts, Burgos said. But the images of Lowry’s truck put to rest that argument, he said.
Lowry’s lesson is particularly important on Labor Day weekend, when more people are expected to be hitting the roads.
“We ask everyone here in the state of Ohio to please wear your seatbelts,” Burgos said.
Lowry has agreed to work with Wood County Safe Communities, coordinated by Sandy Wiechman, to spread the word about buckling up.
“The more I look at these pictures, the more I just can’t believe that this young man walked away,” Wiechman said.
“I’m just delighted how we are going to be able to work with Brent,” to help convince motorists to click in, she said.
Lowry’s parents, Bruce and Debbie Lowry of Pemberville, recalled the day of the crash.
“He called me. He was still in the vehicle,” his mom said, expressing relief that seatbelt use was always stressed in their family. “We were always strict about it.”
Lowry remembered that day as well.
“That was my favorite truck,” he said, nodding toward the photo of his smashed up maroon Chevy Silverado.
He was driving home behind a truck, and “the next thing I knew, he swerved, and right before me was a semi truck.”
Lowry hit the semi and spun around multiple times.
“It felt like a miracle for me,” he said. “Everybody on the scene was amazed I was alive. If I was not buckled in, I would not be here today.”
And his second chance at life may make it into one of his songs.
“This has inspired me a lot,” he said. “It really woke me up to understand how life is fragile.”
