Life-threatening: Ex-pastor collides with stopped truck
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Greg Briehl is in critical condition in a Richmond hospital.PHOTO COURTESY GREGORY BRIEHL
Gregory John Briehl had come a long way since his arrest in 2006 for the child porn possession and surreptitious filming of women in his home, which cost him jail time and his reputation as a pastor and counselor.
He remarried— to Ruth Graham, daughter of world-famous evangelist Billy Graham— and seemed to be getting his life back on track, say those close to him. He was headed to Richmond to take care of some business Tuesday morning when a bag of trash fell from a garbage truck in the passing lane of a busy highway. And now he’s fighting for his life.
Virginia Waste Services driver Ricky Howell, 46, had pulled his 2004 Mack truck over in the left lane of Route 288 south and partially on the shoulder to retrieve the bag of trash that had fallen into the left lane. He was climbing out of the truck when Briehl’s 1999 Land Rover approached and smashed into the rear of the truck.
The Route 288 accident was reported at 9:25am September 28 on the James River Bridge in Goochland County, about a mile south of Route 6, according to the Virginia State Police.
Although wearing his seatbelt, Briehl, 56, was seriously injured and flown to Virginia Commonweatlh University Medical Center.
“It’s a bleak situation,” says the Reverend Tom Leland, minister of University Baptist Church where Ruth Graham is a member and was ordained August 1. Briehl has multiple injuries, is on dialysis, and has an infection that’s threatening his arm, says Leland.
“The car was almost shorn in half,” says Leland. “It’s amazing he wasn’t killed instantly.”
Briehl resides with Graham in Earlysville, and he has three sons from a previous marriage.
“He was on track to do some mentoring based on his experiences as a counselor and his other life experiences,” says Leland.
Leland had just spoken to Graham when a reporter called, and says she told him, “When we married, we fully committed ourselves to each other, to stand by each other and to trust God to lead us into the future.”
And, says Leland, “She reiterated that his life had turned around and he was headed in a really good direction when this tragedy occurred.”
Trash truck driver Howell has been charged with reckless driving and improperly stopping on an interstate.
It’s especially sad when someone who is trying hard to fix old wrongs, is injured and is fighting for his life like this. Life is short, and it’s hard. Terrible things can,and do happen on a dime. Best wishes to this man and his family. The rest of us should make sure everyone we care about knows this, and that our affairs are in order.
I agree with JK. very sad.
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I sort of saw this as true divine intervention. Since aspects of our religious society seem compelled to keep him in the place of trust where he did so much harm, someone else stepped in. I am not convinced he is trying to fix old wrongs, seeing as it was his mentoring where he got into trouble.
I hope he recovers, and can spend the rest of his life actually doing something to right his wrongs - in a different field he finds less satisfactory. For example, donating lots of time taking care of the sick as a volunteer. Work in a homeless shelter.
He has been called Home.
He has been called Home.
Old Timer, I must disagree. Knowing Greg personally, he has turned his life around. Who Greg is today is a much better representation of God’s work through his life. This is not some karmic event, it is only another opportunity for Greg to express a clearer testimony of a renewed life.
I am very sorry this happened and hope he recovers, but why are some of the commenters implying that this man somehow deserves more sympathy than anyone else involved an automobile accident, or that he gets extra gold stars for “turning his life around”? He committed more than one crime and betrayed his counseling clients and parishioners. Child pornography? Come on, people! Men like that do not change. He should not be “mentoring” anyone.
He is being called home in order to get him off the streets! Sorry, but there is absolutely NO FORGIVENESS for KIDDIE PORN! He got what was coming to him..
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The Driver Of The Trash Truck Got Charged That’s Messed Up He Was Cleaning Up A Mess And Pulled Over.. So You Mean To Tell Me He Did Not See A BIG TRASH TRUCK NOT MOVING In Front Of Him??? So What Was He Doing?? Texting Or Dailing A Number Or Reaching Down Or Was He Speeding?? Alot Of Unanswered Questions..
David D…hope you learn some compassion someday…everyone makes mistakes.
I’m getting really fed up with crap falling/blowing out of the back of trucks and into the road. The drivers of these vehicles with unsecured cargo need some attention from teh Popo.
If it’s okay to say that Briehl got what’s coming to him,
then it should be okay to ask if anyone knows if that little Boston Terrier was riding with him.
Several times in traffic, I’ve seen it crawling over Briehl’s lap. Any extra sensitivity down there might have been a distraction from driving.
Whateva! - sure everyone makes mistakes - but it’s a special kind of MISTAKE when a child is involved, don’t you think?