A former ESPN anchor who was thrown from his RV on a busy California highway recalled his horror after watching the now-viral video of his fall and said he realized he “wasn't supposed to be alive.” .
Cordell Patrick is still trying to figure out how he was able to jump out of his car on the 14 Freeway in Newhall on Monday after his wife fell asleep behind the wheel about 30 miles north of Los Angeles. was confused.
“It was 10 minutes from my house. I got up to go to the bathroom, but at that moment my wife fell asleep,'' said Patrick, heavily bandaged. told NBC Los Angeles. Wednesday from his hospital bed.
He ran to grab the steering wheel as the brand new RV plowed into the concrete divider at 90 mph, but it was too late. The impact threw him out the window and sent him sliding into oncoming traffic.
Horrifying dashcam video shows him falling on the pavement, suffering broken bones, cuts and extensive abrasions.
“I knew I had to wake up or I would die,” Patrick told the outlet. “When I looked at my right ankle, it was facing backwards. So I never walked. I just started running toward the median.”
he also said CBS News LA The event was “indescribable”, he said.
“I had no idea what was going on. I thought the whole side of the RV had been ripped off. I was trying to understand, 'Why am I outside?'” he told the media. Told.
Fortunately, another driver witnessed the accident and came to help.
“All you can see is dust and smoke,” Alf Smithay told NBC station, adding the driver “slided about 600 feet along the median.”
The good Samaritan first spoke to Patrick's wife, who had parked her car about 300 feet from the crash site.
“She kept saying, 'My husband's not here.' He's not here,” Smithy said. “Then she kept looking out the window behind her.”
It took the driver several seconds to find Patrick, as he was lying on the opposite side of the divider.
“His biggest concern was, 'How's my wife doing?'” Smithy said. “I thought, 'That's you who jumped out of her car.' He was more worried about her.”
graphic Video posted by @scv_incidents on Instagram First aiders are shown administering first aid to Patrick, who is wearing a neck brace, while traffic is restored.
According to CBS LA, the accident broke his collarbone, two bones in his leg and several bones in his foot. He also suffered from severe road rash and required stitches on his forehead.
Patrick said he thinks his college basketball career may have helped him overcome the trauma, the newspaper reported.
He said he was shocked by all the media attention and widely circulated footage showing him rolling down the highway in a traffic jam.
“People started sending me videos of me being thrown out of the RV,” he told NBC LA. “After that, I just fell to my knees and thanked God, because I wasn't supposed to be alive.”
Patrick previously served as a studio host for the Chiefs and Spurs on a local television station. He added: “It was divine intervention and nothing else.”
His wife and dog were unharmed in the accident, but their new RV was destroyed while returning home from a camping trip.
