Air Force firefighter from Omaha recovering at home after hit-and-run in Texas

At the end of May, Dominic Dubas was hit by a driver while visiting Austin, Texas. He was left with a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures, but has finally made it home.

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Omaha native, Air Force firefighter recovering at home after hit-and-run in Texas

OMAHA, Neb. —

Melissa Dubas said her oldest son Dominic loved to travel and try new things. He wanted stories and experiences to share when he got older.

“He was very much like, ‘I want to be the best husband and father that I can be, and so I want to do everything I can right now to make me that person,'” Melissa said.

At the end of May, Dominic, an Omaha native, took a trip to Austin, a new city for him to explore. Melissa said he was trying to get away from the rain in Anchorage, Alaska, where he was stationed as an Air Force firefighter. That trip ended when Melissa got a phone call.

“It was the base commander there in Alaska letting me know that Dominic was in Austin and that he had been critically injured,” Melissa said through tears.

Dominic was walking back to his vacation rental when he was hit by a driver. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and fractures to his skull, spine and right leg. Melissa said the car was going 50-60 miles per hour.

Doctors told her there was a 1% chance he would wake up. She had been at his bedside in Austin for a week when she asked what they were waiting for, what sign he could give.

“The doctor responded, ‘No, we’re waiting for you to decide if you’re going to let him go,'” Melissa said. “At that time, I said, ‘We’re not going to let him go. We’re not going to give up.'”

After a month of care in Austin, Dominic is now in a care facility in Nebraska — back in his home state for the first time in a year.

“It’s nice to have him here in the sense of like we can go home and sleep in our own bed, but at the same time, it’s not like having him here,” Melissa said.

She told Omaha’s News Leader the Air Force arranged transportation to bring home one of their own so he could be with his family. The Dubas family continues to support Dominic’s healing journey, which is far from over.

“If he has the opportunity to fight, he will,” Melissa said. “He’s not somebody that just gives up easily.”

Melissa said Austin Police believe the man who hit Dominic is an illegal immigrant who fled back to Mexico after the crash. She said this isn’t considered a felony in Mexico, and because he isn’t a U.S. citizen, Mexico won’t extradite him back to the United States for a trial.

Dominic has a younger brother who is in ROTC at UNL, and in two years, he’ll enlist in the Air Force as an officer. Before the accident, he asked Dominic to pin him at the Air Force pinning ceremony. That’s the goal Dominic and his family are working towards now.

To get him there, Melissa said they want to try experimental treatments, will need to upgrade their house and possibly buy a new car. You can support the Dubas family through their GoFundMe.

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