James Callahan of Flower Mound remains hospitalized in Grapevine after an incident last week where he had just a split second to react before he dashed out of a Subway Sandwich Shop in Wautaga to chase a driverless car containing a young child.  The car was rolling toward six lanes of traffic on Highway 377 before Callahan managed to stop the car and prevent the child from being injured, but he himself was run over in the process and suffered a myriad of injuries including a broken leg, second and third degree burns, and head injuries. “I think he is a hero,” said Yvonne Mellinger, Callahan’s girlfriend. Despite the extent of his injuries, the 48 year-old resident of the Glenwick neighborhood said he doesn’t regret what he did. “I would do it again,” said Callahan, the father of two girls. “I saw a little defenseless kid in the back of a mini van rolling toward a highway, and my thought was that the vehicle would be like a ping pong ball getting hit by traffic. I didn’t think the child could survive that.” 

       It all started on Tuesday, June 16 when Callahan went to Subway for lunch. He said he had just sat down at a booth by a window and taken the first bite of his sandwich when he noticed a car pull up and a lady get out and enter the Subway, leaving a young child in the car. She had barely entered the store when Callahan saw her car begin to roll down an incline. “The car was lined up perfectly to roll down the driveway and straight onto Denton Highway,” Callahan said, adding that he yelled out to the woman that her car was rolling as he dashed out the door, amid screams from the woman that her child was in the car. Somehow, he managed to get the door open and get his foot on the brake before the car knocked him down. As he fell, Callahan said he yanked the steering wheel to direct the car to come to a stop on a curb instead of rolling into traffic. As a result of those efforts he was pulled under the left front tire and dragged along the pavement, slamming his head into the cement roadway. The next thing he knew, Callahan, who owns a car dealership in Watauga, was being transported to Harris Hospital in Fort Worth by ambulance. According to a Wautaga Police Department report, he arrived at the emergency room about 2 p.m.      
   

    Mellinger, who is Callahan’s girlfriend and also a Flower Mound resident, said, incredibly, Callahan was released from the hospital just hours after being treated in the emergency room. A nurse who works at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Mellinger said she stayed up all night Tuesday watching Callahan, who had stitches in his head and a concussion, in addition to the other injuries. Callahan was dizzy and suffering from low blood pressure that night, she stated, but in the morning when he spiked a fever, she called for an ambulance to come to their home. Emergency crews from Flower Mound transported Callahan to Baylor Hospital in Grapevine where he remained for more than a week after the accident. On Wednesday, Callahan was receiving three different medications by IV, having his burns debrided and being seen by a wound specialist.    

      “His whole body is bruised, but he is going to live and that’s a miracle,” Mellinger said. She added that the driver of the wayward car thanked Callahan as he lay on the pavement for saving her child, and they have been playing “phone tag” since then, but haven’t actually spoken again.

      Mellinger said Callahan’s parents have arrived from Virginia, and Flower Mound friends and neighbors have rallied around the couple. “In our Glenwick neighborhood, we stick together. James has received so many cards and phone calls, and friends are planning to help with meals when he gets home from the hospital. It’s just amazing. This whole thing proves that Flower Mound is a great place to live,” she said.