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Detroit firefighter dies after being hit by drunk driver

Tony Castone was unconscious in the hospital for almost a month after an alleged drunk driver swerved and struck him

By FireRescue1 Staff

DETROIT — A firefighter died last week from injuries sustained in a December crash.

FOX2 Detroit reported that Detroit Fire Department firefighter Tony Castone, 41, was hospitalized Dec. 27 after being hit by a woman who was allegedly intoxicated after celebrating her recent nursing school graduation.

The woman swerved to avoid another vehicle and hit Castone from behind, according to officials. Castone was transported to the hospital, where he remained unconscious until he died.

“It was 8:37, I just remember, ‘OK, OK I’ll see you when you get here,’” Castone’s wife, Laura, said. “And by 9:04 I was getting phone a call that he had been in a car accident.”

Castone’s colleagues remembered him as a great firefighter and community servant who once saved a badly burned baby and then donated his own skin to help him.

“I love hearing those things and we are going to need to hear them to help us get through these days because he was just here yesterday,” Laura said. “I look all around this house and I hear his fire boots down the hallway.”

Castone was on leave from the fire department due to a prolonged disability, but was planning to return in March after physical therapy.

Laura said Castone gave the gift of life after his death and donated his skin, tissue and organs.

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