DEARBORN, Mich. – Birl Williamson, who is a community-minded mentor and entrepreneur who sells ice cream during the summer, was driving his ice cream truck on Saturday when he became a hero, but he paid a price.
Witnesses say Williamson was trying to tell everyone in the street to be careful while kids were buying ice cream in the street at Amazon and Dix in Dearborn. That's where he saw a 2009 Kowasaki motorcycle careening down the street right toward his young customers.
Williamson pushed a 5-year-old girl aside and took the brunt of the bike's force himself. Today, he is at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn with very serious injuries.
"It's painful to see him like that," said his sister, Ruby Jones.
Ruby Jones is stunned about what happened to her brother.
"Two broken legs with a pin in both knees and both ankles. His face is super swollen. He has stitches in his head," she said.
She says he doesn't remember what happened.
"He kept asking, 'What happened?' And I told him he was in an accident in Dearborn and he saved a little girl's life, and he asked, 'Did I save the girl?' I said, 'Yes you did,' so he tried to cry," she said.
The Williamsons are clinging to the notion that Birl did what his parents raised him to do: think of others.
"I am super excited that he did it for someone and was trying to save someone else's life to make their family life situation better, and because of that I know he's a blessed child," said his sister.
Birl Williamson's ice cream selling season is over as the truck goes into storage. However, it's the beginning of a long road to recovery.
Dearborn police are investigating the accident. No charges have been filed against the motorcyclist, who also was injured but was treated and released from the hospital.