Critically injured DC 33 member will need our help on his road to recovery
More Philadelphians should know the story of Tyree Ford — the municipal worker who was hit by a suspected drunk driver while on a picket line during the trash strike.
Philly went through a lot during the eight-day strike by trash collectors and other city workers that ended last week. Garbage pickups have thankfully resumed, and other affected city services are getting caught up, too. Hopefully, after members of District Council 33 wrap up the voting period on their proposed new contract on Sunday, the city can close this hotly contentious chapter.
But for sanitation worker Tyree Ford, another more personal battle is just beginning. Ford, 36, had been advocating on behalf of better wages for himself and his fellow DC 33 members on July 3 when he was critically injured by a suspected drunk driver in the 3900 block of Delaware Avenue.
Ford and his pregnant fiancée, Aaliyah Norris, were sitting in chairs that had been placed in front of a picket line when, police said, a black 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe drove onto the sidewalk, striking them both. Ford reportedly pushed Norris out of the way, which saved her from being seriously injured.
Witnesses flagged down police, who arrested the fleeing suspect, 41-year-old Damon Robinson of the 1400 block of South Second Street, and charged him with driving under the influence, aggravated assault, and related offenses.
Ford remains in critical condition at Jefferson Torresdale Hospital. On Monday, doctors performed a second surgery on the father of six. More operations are expected. According to a family member, Ford is able to speak, which relatives take as a good sign.
“It’s not over for us because my brother had a lot of injuries,” his older sister, Crystal Purnell-Bolden, told me last week. “He’s going to have to learn how to walk again. He has a cut in his pupil, so we don’t know if he’s even going to be able to see.”
Ford suffered devastating injuries, Purnell-Bolden said. “He has a broken collarbone, a broken femur, a broken pelvis,” she said, adding that his pelvis has multiple breaks. “He also has a bruised lung. It’s not punctured, but it’s bruised … he has six fractures in his skull.”
A lot of Philadelphians don’t know his story, and they should. But Ford is a city employee who works in a field that too often is underpaid — the average annual salary for a member of DC 33 is $46,000 — and underappreciated.
To raise awareness of Ford’s plight, Nafees “CEO Nafis” Bolden, 38, created a social media video “because I just felt like he was neglected.”
“When it was time to talk about District Council 33, the narrative was just about the money,” Bolden told me earlier this week. “It wasn’t about him at all. That’s what made me do the video. I just felt like nobody cared.”
District Council 33 president Greg Boulware told me he had just left the union hall when he heard about the incident that Thursday night.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and other city officials have visited Ford at his hospital. A city spokesperson said they will “continue to offer Mr. Ford support in all the ways they can.”
Ford’s life changed as he knew it the night he was struck by an alleged drunk driver. He’s going to need assistance — not just from his union or the city, but from just about anyone else who’s able to help.
To that end, Boulware said he will circulate the GoFundMe campaign Ford’s sister created so other Philadelphians can help him, as well.
The strike appears to be over. The two sides have reached an agreement that’s currently being voted on by union members. It’s time for the city to come together and move forward — but we shouldn’t do so without remembering Tyree Ford.