Groom and His Best Man Hit by Suspected Drunk Driver While Leaving Wedding Rehearsal Dinner By Kimberlee Speakman

Two men, who were struck by a suspected drunk driver earlier this month, had been preparing for a wedding when the incident took place.

The victims — identified as Lincoln Ottersbach and Kirk Nuthak, a groom and his best man — were leaving a rehearsal dinner the night before the nuptials at around 12:46 a.m. local time on Aug. 1, according to WLKY-TV, WTTV-TV and WKRC-TV.

The Jeffersonville Police Department (JPD) said officers responded to a report of a crash involving a vehicle and two pedestrians at the intersection of Pearl and West Maple Streets in Jeffersonville, Ind., per the outlets.

Police said the two men were found unconscious when officers arrived on the scene, and they were transported to the hospital. One of the men regained consciousness despite sustaining “significant injuries.”

Police arrested the driver of the vehicle involved in the crash, 30-year-old Benjamin Fox, who remained at the scene. Police said, per WTTV-TV, that officers conducted a field sobriety test with Fox after he made a comment about eating pizza because “he needs more than just bread when he drinks.” Fox was booked into the Clark County Jail. 

According to WTTV-TV, Fox was charged with two counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, causing serious bodily injury, and one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, causing endangerment to others.

The JPD did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the incident.

Lincoln’s family told WTTV-TV that the groom sustained numerous broken bones from the crash and would need surgery.

Nuthak’s family, meanwhile, told the outlet that the best man, who is expecting his first baby with his wife in November, suffered multiple bone fractures and was placed on a breathing machine in the hospital.

“It’s the kind of call no parent ever wants to get,” Lincoln’s father, Rich Ottersbach, told WLKY-TV. “When I got here, he was alive. And a lot of damage. But we still had him with us.”

Rich also told the outlet that doctors informed him that his son had a long road to recovery ahead, and it would take at least “four to six weeks” before he would put any “weight on his left leg because of his pelvis.” 

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Still, Rich said he has faith that his son will make a full recovery. “He’s a strong-willed boy,” he told WLKY-TV. “He knows what’s ahead of him. And now, he understands what he’s got to do to get there.”

A GoFundMe has been created to help raise money for the friends’ recovery, as well as “hotel stays” and “meals” for their families as they support the two men.

As for Fox, he is scheduled to appear in court next month.

Rich told WLKY-TV, “I’ll let the courts handle that. I just hope that he [Fox] realizes the mistake that he made and the damage that he’s caused.”