Muskogee 'Santa' Injured By Hit-And-Run Driver

Santa Claus is the last person you'd expect to be a victim of a crime, but that's what happened recently outside Muskogee.

Brandon Reid plays a Victorian-era Santa all over the state each holiday season and was the victim of a hit-and-run crash that left him with a broken back and shattered leg.

Brandon has already had one surgery and is facing even more then is looking at months of rehabilitation. Even though he's in great pain, what hurts him the most is that he can't be Santa this year.

Brandon Reid has the look and heart of Santa.

He started doing historic re-enactments, then it blossomed into doing events at historic places, private homes and businesses. Now it's become very much a part of who he is.

He wife makes his beautiful costumes, and he loves making children happy.

"She reached up and pulled on m beard and gasped and said, 'he's a really, real Santa because he has a really, real beard on his face,'" said Brandon Reid, hit-and-run victim who plays Santa.

Brandon was leaving his job at the Muskogee VA, driving his motor trike. He stopped at the stop sign at Highway 64 and Smith Ferry Road, when another driver slammed into him from behind. The driver kept going.

"I thought, I could be dead for all he knows. He didn't even stop. He left me in the middle of the highway and left," Brandon said.

A family saw him on the ground and their child said, "that's Santa, we have to stop." They did and held his hand until help arrived. He has four fractured vertebrae, a shattered leg and is covered in road rash.

"I want them to be held accountable," he said. "I would love for them to know, that's not okay."

He's devastated his months of recovery will keep him from playing the role he loves.

"I certainly don't want any of the little ones to walk up and see Santa is hurt or that Santa is in a wheelchair," said Brandon Reid.

He says he's not angry at the driver, just disappointed - but, as Santa does, he's focused on the positive.

"Honestly, I was blessed, it could've been so much worse," he said.

There is a fund set up for Brandon’s medical expenses. Click here to help.