Middletown food truck owner returns after crash nearly a year later

April 27, 2026

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‘I refuse to fail,’ says owner determined to rebuild

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (WKRC) — A Middletown food truck owner is back on the road nearly a year after suffering a broken neck in a crash.

Larry Cantor, owner of BL BBQ & Karaoke DJ Food Truck, said May 4, 2025, is a day he will never forget. He was driving to Dayton Children’s Hospital to serve nurses during Nurses’ Week when another car pulled out in front of him.

“I T-boned them; there was no avoiding it,” he said. “I wound up off the road in between the house and a tree.”

Cantor said the crash nearly cost him his life.

“Had I hit the house, I’d have killed everybody that’s sitting in the living room right there, and … had I hit the tree, I’d have killed myself,” said Cantor.

He survived but suffered serious injuries, including a broken neck.

“My break was called the hangman’s break because it typically happens when somebody’s hung,” said Cantor. “Then, three months later, they found that my bones had actually deteriorated in my neck, so they had to go and then get surgery done, so now I’ve got four screws, two rods, grafting donor bone,” he said.

Cantor’s truck and trailer, which held his business, were destroyed in the crash.

“Almost nothing of the equipment that I had inside of there was salvageable. It took my refrigerator off the wall, threw it into my other refrigerator,” Cantor said.

During his recovery, Cantor stayed determined to return to work. He cashed out a 401K from a previous job to help pay for a new truck and trailer and also took out a second loan. His business is now back up and running, and he returned to the road in late March.

“The first time I pulled the trailer out of the driveway to that event … I was like, it feels so good just to be back out again and serving people the food that they’ve been asking for,” said Cantor. “I’m not going to fail. I refuse to fail. I’ve made it through a broken neck. I’m back out.”

Cantor received strong support from the community after the crash. Gravel Road Brewing Company hosted a fundraiser to help him and his family.

He said he is currently operating his food truck once or twice a week and hopes to increase that to three to five days a week by the end of May.

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