Surviving retired police chief reflects on 2019 crash amid dangerous conditions

RIESEL, Texas (KWTX) - More than three years after he was injured while helping at a crash scene on a rainy day, retired Riesel Police Chief, Danny Krumnow, is urging drivers to use caution amid icy road conditions this week.

“On days like [Wednesday], why are people even out trying to drive in this? It just can’t get more dangerous,” Krumnow told KWTX.

He says after seeing that a DPS trooper was hit and injured near Corsicana this week, he wonders what can be done to stop it from happening.

“Is it coming to the point where law enforcement no longer goes to accidents? Because there are so many hurt and technically all we’re doing is providing evidence to the insurance companies,” Krumnow said.

Krumnow was seriously hurt and Falls County Deputy, Matt Jones, was killed when a car struck them on an October afternoon in 2019 while they were assisting a motorist whose car evidently slid off State Highway 6 just south of Riesel.

Krumnow says he’s still recovering.

“I’ve had multiple surgeries and three years later I’m still healing on some injures, I have some I will never recover from.”

“On the day my accident happened the roads were just damp they weren’t iced over and I actually saw the car coming and we were in a place that we thought was safe,” Krumnow said.

He has since retired but says he’s still well connected with the city and police department.

“I used to tell my troops over the years to be careful at the traffic stops because your chances of getting shot are not near as great as your chance of getting hit by a car and there you have it I got hit by a car,” Krumnow recalled.

With this weeks weather, he says there a few things he wants drivers to know before heading out.

“If you do drive and you are stuck or whatever please don’t get out of your car because if you get hit it’s really bad,” he explained.

“These front wheel drive cars seem to give people a false sense of security because they get around better than some of the four wheel drive vehicles can, but remember, even though you may be able to go, you can’t stop.”

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