'It just tears you up knowing he's in bad shape'
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LAKE STEVENS, Wash. -- A single father to four boys went from hard-working dad to critically hurt at Harborview Medical Center, after he was hit by the driver of a stolen car.
Robert Bentz is getting better, but his list of injuries is long. And while he has insurance through his work, the single dad is going to need help.
Bentz was driving his son Rody to the first day of school when the driver of a stolen car slammed into them. Bentz took the hit in the driver's side of his pick-up, before it rolled and caught fire.
He has a fractured back, a broken leg, a broken ankle, a broken jaw, torn artery, internal bleeding and other injuries.
Now his four sons, Ryan, Rick, Rody and Harley, are getting by with help from their grandmother.
"He's always there for us and it's weird not seeing him there for us," said 19-year-old Ryan.
Needs are great, and it is of course a struggle to be without their dad.
"He's an active man -- a construction worker, digging ditches, laying pipes... building, for anybody," said Bentz' mother Haralina Bentz. Whenever he's needed anywhere he makes an effort to be there. He's a good man."
Friends are trying to help raise money to support the family.
"Everybody that knows Rob knows he's got a great big heart on him," said Howard Fletcher, Bentz' foreman. "And it just tears you up a little bit knowing that he's in bad shape."
Rody, 16, is out of the hospital, but he needs months of physical therapy. And Robert has a long recovery ahead.
Money is a concern. His pickup truck was not insured.
"Well, Rob, he doesn't have a lot, and what he does have he works hard for," Fletcher said. "And I can tell ya, he'd give you the shirt off his back whether he had one or not."
If you'd like to help, you can donate through our Problem Solvers.
The man in the stolen car died at the scene.
Robert Bentz is getting better, but his list of injuries is long. And while he has insurance through his work, the single dad is going to need help.
Bentz was driving his son Rody to the first day of school when the driver of a stolen car slammed into them. Bentz took the hit in the driver's side of his pick-up, before it rolled and caught fire.
He has a fractured back, a broken leg, a broken ankle, a broken jaw, torn artery, internal bleeding and other injuries.
Now his four sons, Ryan, Rick, Rody and Harley, are getting by with help from their grandmother.
"He's always there for us and it's weird not seeing him there for us," said 19-year-old Ryan.
Needs are great, and it is of course a struggle to be without their dad.
"He's an active man -- a construction worker, digging ditches, laying pipes... building, for anybody," said Bentz' mother Haralina Bentz. Whenever he's needed anywhere he makes an effort to be there. He's a good man."
Friends are trying to help raise money to support the family.
"Everybody that knows Rob knows he's got a great big heart on him," said Howard Fletcher, Bentz' foreman. "And it just tears you up a little bit knowing that he's in bad shape."
Rody, 16, is out of the hospital, but he needs months of physical therapy. And Robert has a long recovery ahead.
Money is a concern. His pickup truck was not insured.
"Well, Rob, he doesn't have a lot, and what he does have he works hard for," Fletcher said. "And I can tell ya, he'd give you the shirt off his back whether he had one or not."
If you'd like to help, you can donate through our Problem Solvers.
The man in the stolen car died at the scene.
Rob is a great guy! I do know he had this truck since i have known him! Probably been driving this truck 8 or 10 years. And you are probably right saying the insurance company wouldnt give him much for his truck. Its rude to think that his driving record might be the reason! And for the record he does have medical! In todays world car insurance is a huge rip off due to the fact they dont cover anything. even when you have full coverage they dont pay for squat! Being a single father of 4 kids would probably be the reason he doesnt have auto insurance. not many people can raise and afford 4 kids by themselves and pay all there bills.
 @Zach Knisley Great post! I am disappointed but not surprised that many people are focusing on the insurance aspect of this tragedy. I noticed a lot of these people seem to be trying to console themselves "Well that would NEVER happen to me because I am (better insured/more financially secure/whatever) than this man!". They then go the extra mile to separate themselves from this accident survivor by insinuating that he had it coming.Â
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I personally don't care how people help themselves sleep at night but it's callous and rude to take that thought process to the Internet, where the man's grieving family can read their remarks.
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I feel sorry for the guy, but his unwillingness to carry insurance on his truck or him self is going to cost him much more than it would have with insurance. I just fell from a roof and would be bankrupt if not for insurance. I feel for him for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but the end will be much worse because of his bills he will have to pay from it. I wonder if his driving record might be the cause of his unwillingness to purchase insurance. I really hope he get's some help.
Car Insurance has Nothing to do with the incident that occured....I dont believe it to be relevant. @2nd Baseman and a few others speak as though he somehow Deserved this or could have prevented it. Simply having insurance would have changed Nothing! Sounds like he is a good man, and I pray for his full recovery.
 @It_Delivers  @2nd Baseman you are correct. Except his insurance would have replaced the truck since the car that hit him was stolen. Then again if the truck was old he wouldn't have gotten much anyway. My guess is it was since it did not have a loan on it. Loan require full coverage. I agree with you. I pray for his recovery.Â
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 @2nd Baseman Your caps lock can be turned off and you will still get your point across.
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 @2nd Baseman  @111 If you really cared you would have a smaller TV.
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--You are not showing any compassion to this family by making your comments. I am glad for you that you may have been fortunate enough to not understand what it is like to need to have to support yourself and your family while struggling to make ends meet. There are different kinds of insurance, and if he had no insurance, maybe you will feel better about yourself knowing that he will also have to pay a hefty fine on top of everything else this family been through. But more likely, he had the minimal insurance required by law that won't cover much. Raising children on a limited income, you have to make choices. You'd be the same person who would criticize this same family if the father chose not to drive because he couldn't afford insurance and instead collect unemployment and benefits because he couldn't work due to no way to get there. Living in a rural area and working a construction job where you have to go to different sites is different than living somewhere with adequate public transportation. Nobody is making you give anything to this family, so why you care enough to focus on this issue escapes me.
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You should also think about the fact that this man's sons nearly lost their father--one as young as 7. They already don't have a mother. What satisfaction to you is worth it to have his children grappling with this read negative things from you, a stranger?
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I commend any single parent who works hard to support their family. I'd like to help this family out even without the accident, but they sure could use extra support right now--both in the the things GCW suggests, as well as positive emotional support, good thoughts and wishes for these kids to see.
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My thoughts, prayers, and support are with Mr. Bentz and his family.
Did anyone note Mr Bentz works at Universal Land Construction, of Woodinville? Has anyone considered asking his employer if it would be okay to set up a place folks can stop by and drop off donations to help him out? It may seem small but even simple things like a Costco case of tp, dish soap, laundry soap, canned goods, cold cereal, lunchmeat, cheese, etc will help him while he works on getting back on his feet. Bakery outlets are a great place to get bread in bulk for less than the grocery store He will be needing resources to help him once he gets home and working on getting mobile again. A gift certificate to Abilities Unlimited NW in Bothell would be a great help! Gift cards to Grocery Outlet and Winco would be helpful One of his boys is 16 and one assumes still in HS Do they qualify for help with breakfast/lunch or could someone pay for his meals at school? Prepaying for a pizza delivery 4 times a month from a place close to his home would help Contacting PUD and asking to help pay part or all of one of his utility bills will help A gift card to Walmart or Target A gift gas card as his mom is helping them out and one hopes she has a car As the mom of a childhood cancer survivor I can assure those of you that judge Mr Bentz being sucker punched by life having your world emplode and trying to mentally adapt and financially recover... You do what you can with the tools that you've got You make do without so your kids have the things they need Don't be so quick to judge him You may one day have an opportunity to eat crow! With 4 boys with hallow legs to try and fill one has to know his food bill alone has to be over the top! Please think of ways to help the guy and his family out rather than put him down Someone mentioned Karma Whatever you choose to call it It's true! You do get what you give in life People remember a kindness and do their best to repay it or pay if forward You really don't want folks to remember a slight and be unwilling to even pee on you should you ever find yourself on fire.
I can not believe some comments about his car insurance. Yes you are supposed to have it but my god he is in the hospital badly hurt. Have some compassion towards humans. At least him and his son are alive!!!!!!
At least we can be, if not pleased, more satisfied knowing the thief is dead. It's primitive justice, yes, but still justice.
@dgruntled Somehow it seems like the couple dollars in taxes that it would have cost us to pay for the trial, incarceration, etc. of the car thief could go toward the victim instead.
I know there has always been ignorant heartless people in the world, but I'm saddened that our technological advances bring them all to surface so often to remind us. Irregardless of what this man had or didn't have, could afford or couldn't afford before, whether he was a nice guy or not, hard worker or not... fact of the matter is his life is forever changed as well as the lives of his children due to absolutely NO fault of his own. The poor guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I'm mind boggled at how he had enough time to react to do what he could to protect his child... one more batt of an eye and it could of been his son's life that ended. It's going to be a long hard struggle for this family so if you can help, then help. If you pray, send prayers, if you don't, just good thoughts may help.
I am in the fortunate position of being able to financially contribute to this single dad and will do so today. While I appreciate all of the comments regarding insurance or lack of it, we do need to show compassion to our fellow human beings. Life is hard enough! My sister died suddenly about 3 months ago and was a single mom of 3 children ages 18, 22, 24 so I know first hand how a tragedy turn one's life upside down. Let's lift this family up and do what we can to support them, even if you are not able to do so with money.
This family is a hard working family, tightly bonded. Â Robert is a good father and his mother is the hardest working, strongest woman I've ever known. Â If you don't know them, you shouldn't speak ill or judge them. Â
Give this man a break. He sounds like a good dad who was just doing what he needed to do to get by. He has 4 teenage boys to support and it sounds like he's doing it on his own. Even if he just had liability insurance it still wouldn't cover the mess he is in right now.
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This man is a victim. He was hit by some effing idiot (who is now deceased) in a stolen car. This dad is STILL ALIVE and his life is changed. What happened to people caring about victims? Caring about your neighbors? This could have been anyone. This man didn't deserve this and he shouldn't be getting attacked!
I think some of you have lost sight of the real story here....This is a good man, a hard working man, an INNOCENT, single father of 4 doing the same thing you and I do every day....getting up, driving to work with the expectation that he can get there without having a car thief hit him head on and change his life and the life of his four boys for ever. His truck was older and probably not worth enough to warrant having full coverage. I have an older car that's not worth more than 1500 and I only have liability on it. It covers the other person if i cause an accident. I don't think any of us expect to leave our house in the morning and in a blink of an eye end up airlifted to Harborview with catastrophic injuries. This is a man that works a hard physical job that he may not be able to return to for several months... if not longer. He will have months of physical therapy before he's back on his feet. If any of you have had a broken bone you must know how frustrating it can be to do anything...imagine having a broken ankle, broken leg, broken wrist, broken back, broken jaw, internal injuries including a crushed aorta, worrying about your 4 children, worrying about whether or not you will have a job to go back to or if you will ever be able to do that job again, worrying about how you will put food on the table and keep a roof over your head, none of which is your fault, all because some crazed man decided to steal a car and drive it into the front of you at high speed. We should be doing everything we can to help this family...not trying to place the blame on him in any way, shape or form because this was NOT his fault! He is the victim in this terrible accident.
"Not Insured" means no Comprehensive or Collision, it doesn't mean he didn't have "Liability." Â
As Stryker so eloquently put it, All you people that are focusing on the insurance, are idiots!
All you people that are focusing on the insurance, are idiots!
you're always supposed to have a years worth of pay for emergencies...
@m - Some people can't even afford living expenses let alone save to have a "years" worth of pay. I wish I could.
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@2nd Baseman Maybe because raising 4 children on one salary prevents you from paying the high premiums for insurance; we can barely afford it with 2 incomes and no children to support!! If you have so much extra money, maybe it wouldn't hurt your bank account too much if you gave that year's worth of YOUR pay to help this hard-working father of 4 get his life back on track?!
@2nd Baseman - Uhhh, to get back and forth to work. With a lot of people in this economy and all the lay off's, a lot of people are making exactly 1/2 or less of what they used to make. No one is safe from lay off's, but we still have to live. I'm layed off but I still have insurance on my car, not everyone can do this. He's a single Dad, raising four boys, probably on one income. That's not easy.
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 @2nd Baseman most likely he has liability only- and I'd bet some of you are in the same position.
The greatest country in the world, but if you end up in the hospital, you could lose everything you own and have to file bankruptcy. Seems kind of scary.
You people are rude. Have some compassion
Some times people have to decide food or i insurance and hungry kids don't care about    insurance Good luckÂ
This is the exact reason why I still have full coverage on my car even though it's fully paid for, not to mention I also have underinsured/uninsured coverage in case the other person doesn't have enough coverage or has no coverage at all.  You just never know. For full coverage on my car it's  only $200 for 6 months of coverage, my car is 12 years old with only about 125000 miles on it.  I hope he is able to fully recover fro his injuries as well recover from this financially. I just hope he learned his lesson about not having adequate insurance.
 @anonstanwood do you have 4 kids to feed too? On a single parent/ construction worker budget?
anon, if you are so well off maybe you could give some cash to father of four
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@fyrefawx @anonstanwood You said it quite well! They are all around us!
 @anonstanwood Really? Learned his lesson? Not everyone can afford food let alone insurance. $200 is alot of money to some people.
@Suzy @anonstanwood Amen! Especially with 4 kids to feed, clothe and school costs!
 @Suzy  @anonstanwood agree... especially a single Dad of FOUR boys doing some of the hard and sometimes menial work to support them alone. Â
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This is one of those times I wish I knew someone really wealthy to help this family. Â I wish I could but most of us are just getting by ourselves. Â
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I am really getting sick of these "personal responsibility preachers". Â They are usually the same people saying if you can afford health insurance you shouldn't have it. Â
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I hope  a lot of people see this story and donate. Wish I could.Â
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 @Andrew Bush  @Suzy  @anonstanwood although your concern for the family is genuine and its nice to hear that you would like to donate to his family if you could, I think he would take offense to the comment about his job in construction being menial. He's a proud man and I'm sure he doesn't consider any hard days work menial no matter what it is.
 @Andrew Bush  @Suzy  @anonstanwood A kind word helps a lot too Andrew, or even one dollar. Lots of people will be helping out, don't feel bad if you can't right now.
 @anonstanwood Wow - a bit judgmental. The guy is hurting and you are lecturing. Must be nice to be so righteous.
I feel for the guy, honestly. But he should not have been driving his truck without insurance. That could have made a big difference here in the outcome if he had not been operating an uninsured vehicle
 @northwestsurfer First...you don't know that he was driving without insurance. The story said his truck wasn't insured so he could have had liability. Second...if he did have full coverage all that would do is give him the value of an old truck which would probably be a few thousand at most in order to go buy something else. Third...full coverage wont pay to put food on the table and a roof over your head when you're laid up in a hospital bed unable to move because of all your broken bones . Did you forget that he was hit by someone driving a stolen car, an accident that was in no way his fault. If you feel for the guy why don't you open up your wallet and make a donation instead of trying to place blame on him. I truly hope you are never the victim of a crime... yes... I said crime. He was critically injured during the commission of a crime that he had no control over and no amount of coverage would have changed that.
 @mcgal  @northwestsurfer exactly. I only have liability on my 99 kia.   People like to jump to conclusions.Â
@Northend @mcgal Oh and one more thing; I also empathize (and sympathize) with the victim. When I was involved in my accident last fall, I remember coming to the forums reading all of the comments about how it was my fault, I was dumb for running under the west seattle bridge (despite being on a pedestrian path), etc. I had a choice to defend myself, or remain silent. The victim can do the same if he wants.
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This is a public forum, and if people didnt disagree with each other, there wouldnt be much commenting going on. I'm not disrespecting anyone; I'm commenting on the fact the story reported no insurance was on the vehicle.
@Northend @mcgal I'll try again. The story clearly stated he was driving an uninsured vehicle; it said nothing about the vehicle having liability insurance only. That was what my point was about. I didnt jump to conclusions at all; as a matter of fact that is what you and mcgal are doing; assuming the vehicle had liability insurance only.
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I am thinking objectively and critically. I make no assumptions here; I read the facts and comment on them.
@mcgal Hmm, I thought I was thinking objectively, but I guess I wasnt. I mean, the story clearly reported his truck was not insured, it did not say he had liability only insurance (which I gave thought to prior to my post).
Thank you for the lesson on insurance, I mean, I have owned 6 autos in my life and 3 motorcycles; one of those cars got totaled by a rear end collision when someone hit me, and one motorcycle was stolen. All of them had full coverage; I always wondered why they only paid me the value of the vehicle or bike, not what I paid for them (you have informed me for sure).
I am also glad you explained to me about hospital stays, and insurance. I mean I went to the hospital last fall for 9 days after breaking my back, arm, ribs, collapsing a lung, and other injuries. Insurance paid for it, but I received no wage compensation. I wondered about that too.
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Because of your elaborate and informative post, I am now enlightened. Oh one last thing, I comment on the information layed out in the story, not a hunch. Sorry I offended you, you might want to take that up with KOMO, since they reported the truck was not insured (I didnt make it up)
@2nd Baseman I agree with you also. I am not disresepecting the victim either, and I even prefaced that on my original post. But the article like you and I clearly cited, states his vehicle was not insured. Sounds like you are able to think critically, thanks I appreciate that as well.
@mcgal Try thinking objectively. If his vehicle was not insured, then he should not have been driving. If this was the case, then he would not have been struck by the stolen vehicle, and not been injured, in the hospital, and missed wages.
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I have never driven without insurance, period. Its a risk to myself, and others. How does that sound? Are you going to split hairs more?
 @northwestsurfer  @mcgal so...why don't you explain how it would have made such a big difference in the outcome if he had been fully insured.
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Enlighten me please!
 @northwestsurfer It doesn't specify in the story but he may of had only liability which in this case he would get nothing for his truck or injuries. It would come from the driver at faults insurance. Seeing as it's a stolen car there is no insurance.
@Hachee_Bungwhy Already thought of that before I posted. I just considered the facts the story reported; his truck was not insured.
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@ttrick111 If you are going to threaten people, at least spell it correctly; its spelled "karma"
carma will rear its ugly head 2nd baseman,so glad you are so prepared.