Well-known former door greeter at Broulim’s recovering in burn center following accident

GRAPHIC WARNING: This story contains graphic photos of frostbite injuries sustained by Brian Monson.

RIGBY — A former door greeter at the Broulim’s in Rigby, who is beloved by his community, is lucky to be alive after an accident earlier this week.

Carrie Monson said her husband Brian, 61, was in Nevada Wednesday night hauling bees in a semi-truck to California when the accident happened. He took an off-ramp that didn’t have an on-ramp so he was trying to find a way to get back to the freeway. Construction was being done on the road Brian ended up on.

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“The left-side of his truck hit a rock and kind of tilted it. It didn’t tip over. It just titled it to the driver’s side,” Carrie told EastIdahoNews.com. “So when he opened his door to get out, he fell and hit a rock and broke ribs. … He (then) fell into some water.”

Carrie said it was only 25 degrees outside and the water was cold.

“He fought and fought to get himself out, and he couldn’t get out,” Carrie said. “He took his shoes off, his sweats off, trying to make him lighter. He said he was going to give up. He hollered and hollered … trying to get somebody to hear him.”

It’s estimated that Brian was in the water for at least 14 hours before construction workers found him and got him out of the water.

“If those guys wouldn’t have came, we wouldn’t have Brian,” she said.

Brian was taken in an ambulance to a Nevada hospital that ended up calling Carrie Thursday morning at 11:30 a.m. and telling her what had happened. She was told Brian was being life-flighted to the University of Utah’s Burn Center because he has severe frostbite.

Carrie said her husband has frostbite on his feet and his hands but she isn’t sure about his legs yet.

“They have him on some medicine that will make his blood flow to the areas of the frostbite, so they can see how the frostbite is going to react,” Carrie mentioned.

Along with the frostbite and broken ribs, he broke his pinky — which he has surgery scheduled to fix that next week — and his backside is tore up from falling down the rocks. Thankfully, Carrie said nothing is wrong with his spine.

“They say he’ll be there for a while,” Carrie said. “I can’t go down there very often because I don’t have the funds. But I call him every day to talk to him.”

Brian has over 30 years of experience truck driving. At one point, he wanted a break from it and that’s when he started working at Broulim’s, the same place Carrie has worked at for 18 years. He left Broulim’s last year to go back to truck driving to help his family financially.

This accident is not the first unexpected truck driving incident Brian’s endured. In December, Brian was driving in Oklahoma when his semitruck caught on fire and burnt to the ground. He made it out of the truck with only the clothes on his back and his cellphone.

For anyone interested in making a monetary donation to help with the medical expenses and transportation costs for Carrie to be with Brian in Utah, donations can be made through Venmo @Carrie-Monson-4.