A man recalls the terrifying moment he was ejected from a moving RV as it was driving on a busy freeway in Newhall.
The incident, which was captured on dashcam video by a passing car, happened on Jan. 15 as the survivor, Cordell Patrick, was traveling on the northbound lanes of the 14 Freeway just south of Newhall Avenue.
Patrick, a former ESPN sportscaster, was on his way home to Valencia when his wife, who was driving, had fallen asleep behind the wheel.
Right before she fell asleep, Patrick had stood up for just a moment to use the restroom.
“I had just unbuckled my seat belt. It was only unbuckled for five seconds,” Patrick recalled. “I noticed my wife had dozed off, so instead of going straight, we were headed toward the median. I tried grabbing the steering wheel, but before I could grab it we already had impact.”
In a matter of seconds, the motorhome, which was traveling around 60 miles per hour, collided with the center median. The violent impact threw Patrick out the driver’s side window.
Video shows his body flying over the center divider and onto the opposite lanes of the busy freeway. He was thrown about 170 feet across the roadway.
As Patrick landed on the ground near the median, he thought the terrifying moment would be his last before dying.
“All I’m thinking about is that I’m going to get hit by a car,” he said. “I’m on one of the busiest freeways in L.A. County so what was going through my mind was, ‘I’ll be dead shortly.’”
Dashcam video shows a white SUV quickly swerving out of the way to avoid running over Patrick as his body landed on the ground.
Severely injured but realizing he was still alive, Patrick’s only concern at that moment was moving to a safer spot.
“I just dragged myself and then I leaned up my back against the median until help could come and help came pretty quick,” he recalled.
Alf Smithey, a good Samaritan who spotted Patrick on the ground, immediately pulled over.
“I noticed the guy is laying in the road still,” Smithey recalled. “I was just trying to keep cars away from him. He was all the way there [conscious]. That was the shocking part. I asked him his name, I asked him all kinds of stuff and he was all the way there. He knew he broke his arm, he knew he broke his leg.”
When the fire department crews and paramedics arrived, Patrick was conscious and breathing. He was transported to the hospital where he is still recovering on Tuesday night.
Patrick suffered multiple broken bones, a dislocated shoulder, lacerations to his head, 17 stitches and has road rash covering around 60 percent of his body.
No other drivers, including Patrick’s wife, were injured during the crash. Their beagle, who was riding with them in the RV, was also unharmed. Their motorhome, however, was mostly destroyed.
Patrick said he’s thankful to be alive and is still in shock as to how he survived.
“It was divine intervention,” he said. “If you didn’t think there was a higher power before this, I’m a living witness and I’ve got a living testimony to tell.”