PHOENIX — A Valley father Albert Badalpour has been spending his days reflecting on the man his son was and the impact he had on so many people.
Badalpour says his 35-year-old son was tragically killed in a wrong-way crash last Friday.
Heartbreak is an understatement for a family that has more questions than answers following the phone call from police and medical staff.
"I've been trying to understand what really happened and I don't know who or if anybody is going to come forward to say I saw this or I saw that, we just don't know," Badalpour explained.
He and his wife were at home when a nurse called urging them to come down immediately because Romsen was undergoing surgery. However, due to COVID-19, Badalpour says he and his family waited patiently in the parking lot and prayed for Romsen’s recovery.
"An hour and a half two hours later, the nurse came down and said can you come upstairs, I said that doesn't sound good, so I went up and the surgeon came in and said I'm sorry there was too much internal bleeding, we couldn't save him."
The family is trying to wrap their heads around the details of the wrong-way crash that happened on the I-17 near the Greenway exit ramp. Police say the wrong-way driver, 38-year old Marshall Wray, entered the freeway going the wrong direction and hit Romsen, who ultimately died from injuries connected to the crash.
Albert will never understand why Romsen was taken so soon but says he’ll continue to pray for him and miss him every day.
“We lost a good guy, my son was a wonderful man.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe account.
They plan to donate the funds toward street safety projects, starting with the area where Romsen lost his life.
Albert adds they will hold funeral services this Friday at Christ Church of the Valley at 11:00 A.M. February 5th, 2021 at 7007 W Happy Valley Rd. Peoria, AZ 85383