First Responder Marshall Greene Turned Tragedy into Purpose Outstanding Story of Care In 2014, 3,179 people were killed and 431,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers. These are tragic losses, but in a world filled with numbers and surveys, we all too often forget that every one of those numbers has a name attached.
Not Marshall Greene.
Each year Marshall, a Floyd Emergency Medical Services first responder, helps stage a realistic wreck scene to illustrate the results of distracted driving to 1,400 teenagers in Rome and Floyd County. The compelling scene depicts injuries and loss of life, and the grief, fear and regret that follow.
There, with every eye on him, Marshall puts names to those numbers.
Marshall Knows Better Than Anyone Marshall knows better than anyone the cost of
distracted driving. He lost his two sons, Mason, 12, and Zach, 6, in a horrific wreck when his wife briefly took her eyes off the road to check on the boys. The SUV they were riding in was broadsided by a tractor trailer. No one would have blamed Marshall if he had quit his job for another entirely different line of work, but he didn’t do that. Instead, he has channeled that devastating loss four years ago into a message that demonstrates a special brand of courage and empathy that is inspiring, humbling and selfless. Now Marshall’s efforts are educating young drivers not only in Rome and Floyd County, but in other locations as well. Working with Georgia State Patrol Troopers and Students Against Distracted Driving, he helped coordinate a distracted driving video that has been viewed more than 1.9 million times and has gotten the attention of others, including the Governor’s Office for Highway Safety, and law enforcement officers in Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Ireland. Some people spend their entire lives searching for the meaning or purpose in a tragic circumstance. Marshall, putting his professional knowledge to use, recognized his own tragedy as an opportunity to make a life-saving difference that now reaches across the ocean.
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