‘Lucky Phil’ tells of leap for life from speeding truck
He’s known as Lucky Phil but when he was jumping from a truck travelling 125km/h he didn’t feel too lucky — he thought he was going to die.
The Hastings man has been recovering at Hawke’s Bay Hospital since January 17, when he was left in a critical condition after his brakes failed and truck rolled on the Napier-Taihape Rd.
Police are investigating the brake failure, which occurred as Phil Gotty drove down a hill in the Nga Mahanga area while transporting shingle.
Halfway down the hill he was travelling at 60km/h in a recommended 35km/h area, with a “big drop” looming.
The Mantell-Harding Earthworks driver remembers thinking: “This is going to be a pretty dangerous ending.
“[I was] panicking and planning what am I going to do, do I go with this truck, or do I make an effort to jump.”
After hitting 100km/h, Mr Gotty made his decision. A barbed-wire fence stood in the way of a softer landing, so “my decision then was to jump and hit the road . . . by then I was going about 125km/h”.
“I pulled the truck to the left just so it didn’t run over me, it was a 50-50 chance whether I would survive or not.”
With a vest, pair of shorts, and work boots all the protection he had, Mr Gotty sustained many injuries including a head wound, broken ribs, dislocated hand and cuts to his limbs.
After regaining consciousness, he was surprised to still be alive, he said yesterday.
“I looked around the valley and the truck had been crunched into the bank, and the motor was still winding over but the wheels were all over the place,” he said.
“It was a mess . . . I think I would have been mince by the looks of it.” People arriving on the scene kept Mr Gotty conscious, as he struggled to breathe with a punctured lung.
“I was sort of gasping for air and I just looked around and I thought ‘ oh God, if you’re going to take me, take me now’.
“I felt quite comfortable with going because I just felt so busted up.”
He was flown by the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter to Hawke’s Bay Hospital.
Although “still a bit busted up internally”, he’s now on the mend. Symbols of what helped him pull through dot the walls of his hospital room — pictures of his family, the sea, and a birthday card to celebrate his 53rd birthday on Tuesday.
“So far it’s a slow climb. I survived an accident many wouldn’t have survived, or couldn’t have survived.”
The tiki necklace he was wearing when he had the accident — a Christmas present from his partner’s children — also survived.
“One of my nicknames is Lucky Phil . . . I call him my lucky tiki. We jumped together, he lost a little foot and a little arm so we both had an injury but we’re still here ... Lucky Phil and lucky tiki.”
Although he does not know when he will be discharged from hospital, Mr Gotty said he was “pretty excited to be alive”.
Mantell-Harding owner Bill Harding declined to comment.