Miguel Martinez was hit and killed when his truck broke down on Highway 90. His wife’s final phone call with him captured the moments before he was hit.
SAN ANTONIO — What began as a routine drive to work ended in tragedy for 34-year-old Miguel Martinez.
Martinez’s truck broke down early Monday morning along Highway 90 near General McMullen. Moments later, he was struck and killed by a passing vehicle while partially blocking a lane, San Antonio police said.
At the time, his wife, Shugey Lee Martinez, was on the phone with him, unaware those would be his final moments.
In an interview with KENS 5, she recalled the moments her husband left Monday morning and then later speaking with him on the phone when he started having truck issues.
“He left early around 5:40, a little bit before 5:45 he exited the doors,” she said. “At 5:58, I get a call from him telling me that the truck had just turned off. And I said where are you, and he said I am pulling off to the side.”
At one point, in the phone call she could no longer hear him through the phone.
“What are you saying? Hello? Can you hear me? Do you have me on your bluetooth? Take me off the bluetooth. I can’t hear you. I can’t understand you,” she recalled.
Despite calling back several times, she got no response. Seeing his location on her phone, she asked a neighbor to drive her to the scene, where she learned the devastating news.
“I said, ‘Is he okay?’ and they said he didn’t make it,” she recalled. “My husband was going to work early, on time, because of the weather. And now he’s not coming back.”
Martinez, a coach, was a devoted husband and father of three.
“I want everyone to remember him like that, big smiles, drummer, helping out other kids,” she said.
The truck he was driving now sits outside the family home. The force of the crash ripped the driver’s side door completely off.
“I have not looked at it,” his wife said. “I can not look at it.”
SAPD said the driver who hit Martinez stopped and tried to help, but it was too late. His wife said two vehicles struck him, and both drivers stopped. In the preliminary report, police did not say if any charges will be filed but did add all parties are cooperating with the investigation.
“How can you not see a white truck, a white truck, almost all white with emergency lights on,” she said. “How are you not going to see that?”
Now, she is left without the man she built her life with, but through her grief she had the message to others.
“Be kind to others,” she said. “Be kind to others. And love with no regret.”
Those who wish to help the Martinez family can click here.
