Motorcycle pileup crash victims face long road to recovery after ‘drive into hell’
Riders injured in the chain-reaction motorcycle crash in far north Fort Worth the night of April 18 say they face a long road to recovery.
Daniel Clemments toyed with the idea of staying home that evening because rain was in the forecast. But he’d just gotten his motorcycle repaired, and it was running like a dream. He decided to go — a choice he now regrets.
“I call it the drive directly into hell,” Clemments said of the fiery pileup accident that involved at least 15 motorcycles and 17 injured riders. “It literally felt like ... a portal into hell opened up, and I rode right in.”
The ride got off to a good start. About 90 members of the DFW Redline Riders showed up, according to Clemments. After reviewing the safety rules and setting their formation, the group headed toward the Truck Yard bar in the Alliance area.
The riders traveled in the southbound express lanes of Interstate 35W as planned. They were parallel to their destination spot when something happened up front.
The initial Fort Worth police traffic unit investigation found the lead motorcycle had a tire blow out. Clemments said he’s heard rumors about what may have caused the chain-reaction crash, but he was about 10 to 12 rows back and couldn’t see what was going on.
Clemments remembers clearing the Heritage Trace overpass on I-35W and topping the rise.
“The next thing I knew, all I saw was yellow in my face and things popping in the air,” he said.
With walls on both sides of the two-lane freeway, there was nowhere for him to go to avoid the accident. The thought ran through Clemments’ mind that he was going to die.
The 47-year-old father and Air Force veteran faced a critical decision. If he stopped suddenly, he might get run over by the motorcycles coming behind. If he swerved left, he might hit the rider beside him.
He decided to go right. Instead of the opening he hoped for, a fireball from an exploding motorcycle went off in his face, he said. His own motorcycle hit something in the road, and he went down.
Clemments rolled into a pool of gasoline. His clothing caught fire, and he still remembers the heat. He managed to get his jacket off and put out the fire on the rest of his body, but all he could hear were other riders screaming for help.
To his left, a man was pinned under three motorcycles that were on fire. Clemments tried to move toward the man, but his foot was broken and he collapsed on the highway, he said.
“I was so powerless,” Clemments said. “I couldn’t move.”
Many injured motorcyclists hospitalized
For a while, Clemments thought he was dead. He kept trying to get people’s attention, but they stared at him like he wasn’t even there, he said. He finally managed to hobble over to the wall next to the express lanes and then lay down on the other side.
“All of a sudden, I heard the most beautiful sound in the world,” Clemments said. “A paramedic looked at me and said, ‘Are you OK?’ And I actually heard him, and I responded, and I knew he was talking to me.”
Clemments said it was the sweetest voice he’d ever heard. He knew he was alive.
“All I remember asking was, ‘Somebody get me my phone. I need to call my daughter. I need to tell her I’m OK,’” he said.
Fourteen people were transported to hospitals in the area after the mass casualty incident, according to the Fort Worth Fire Department. Three more were treated and released at the scene. Four of the riders received critical injuries, but there were no fatalities.
Clemments spent two days in the hospital due to a concussion, he said. He also suffered a broken foot, bruised hip, jammed shoulder and some road rash. Compared to some of the other riders, he feels like one of the lucky ones.
Fellow rider Donald Blue ended up in the intensive care unit with a broken shoulder, multiple fractured ribs and a punctured lung. Blue told Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV his thoughts went to his children as he lay injured at the crash scene.
“I have to stay alive for my kids,” he said to WFAA.
Blue required at least two surgeries to repair his injuries, according to his GoFundMe. He will also need inpatient rehabilitation to help him get back on his feet.
Jeremy Suttie, one of the leaders of the group, broke bones in his face, fractured his neck and suffered a traumatic brain injury, his GoFundMe states.
Aftermath of the crash
Worse than the physical pain for Clemments are the nightmares he can’t escape. When he talked with the Star-Telegram on April 25, he said he’d been waking up every night in a cold sweat and crying because he thought he was on fire or couldn’t help the riders around him.
“I close my eyes, and all I see is yellow flames and broken bodies and busted bikes and screaming,” he said.
Clemments is also wondering how he’s going to pay the medical bills that insurance won’t cover. The ambulance bill alone came to $18,000, he told the Star-Telegram. He’s established a GoFundMe to help with his recovery.
In the meantime, he’s busy checking on the other injured riders and trying to take things one day at a time.
Clemments wanted a motorcycle for years. He saved up for it, and when his daughter turned 21, he finally bought his dream.
“It’s therapy on two wheels,” Clemments said. ”There’s no greater feeling than twisting the throttle and winding your way through a twisted country road and just enjoying the world you live in, or hanging out with a bunch of like-minded individuals who know that love.”
After the accident, he wonders if he’ll be able to get back on a motorcycle again.
He said the accident has been hard on his daughter. Clemments was a single father, and the two have always been close.
“It’s always been me and her against the world,” Clemments said. “And ... April 18 almost took me away from her.”
All in all, he knows the accident could have been worse. The group always has one or two riders in front and one in the back who keep tabs on everyone and communicate via headset. One of the front riders was taken out by the crash, but the other one avoided it and got the word back in time to prevent most of the riders from piling in.
Clemments later called his motorcycle riding safety coach and asked if he could have done anything differently to avoid the crash. She said no.
“I take some solace that I did everything I could and I still lost,” Clemments said.
He’s planning to renew his medic training, something he first learned during his time in the Air Force, so he can be prepared to help others. He wonders if that’s why he was spared the night of April 18.
“Maybe I can save somebody else,” Clemments said.
How you can help
Many of the injured riders have set up GoFundMe accounts. A list of the fundraisers is found on the DFW Redline Riders website.
This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM.
