BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A BNSF Railway police officer, Bryan Clark, is in the hospital after suffering severe injuries in a motorcycle crash last Saturday, in southwest Bakersfield.

“His mother is taking it hard and of course the rest of our family, his sisters. He has a 9-year-old son who’s taking it really hard because that’s his dad and even at 9 years old he realizes how close he came to losing his dad,” said Jay Clark, Bryan’s father.

Clark was riding his motorcycle on Panama Lane and Ashe Road when he was hit by a pickup truck, the police said.

A preliminary investigation revealed both vehicles were traveling westbound on Panama lane when the pickup truck collided with the motorcycle. After the initial collision, the truck lost control and struck a building and a fire hydrant.

Clark’s leg was crushed and bleeding profusely.

He was minutes from death, until brothers in blue, Bakersfield police officers, arrived.

“A tourniquet was applied by Bakersfield officers and my understanding is that a bystander who had seen the accident turned around and rendered immediate help to Bryan,” explained Alex Ghazalpour, acting Police Chief for the Arvin Police Department.

The driver was arrested on a DUI charge. Clark was rushed to the hospital.

“Based upon the accident he sustained an amputation in his right leg above the knee and had to be amputated and he sustained severe injuries to his hand too,” said Ghazalpour.

Before working for BNSF, Bryan Clark was an officer at the Arvin Police Department from 2005 to 2012, where the majority of his efforts were spent clearing the roads of drunk drivers.

“It’s very sad and unfortunate just because I know Bryan spent so much time and energy into his law enforcement career catching DUI drivers and making sure they’re off the road. He set up many DUI checkpoints that I worked at,” explained Brandon Snyder, an Arvin police officer.

Bryan Clark has had four surgeries in since the crash. On Wednesday morning, he was taken out of the ICU, although his family says the road to recovery will be long.

“His attitude is I want to fight for this, I want to come back, so he’s got a good strong attitude, he’s not going let this get him down,” said Clark’s father, Jay.

Jay Clark hopes this serves as a lesson for drunk drivers.

“It’s a senseless, senseless crime. All this gentleman had to do was call an Uber and none of this would have happened. So drunk driving has no excuses. No excuses,” explained Clark.