‘I’ll be dead shortly’
Harrowing video captured the moment a former ESPN sportscaster was ejected from his RV on a busy California highway after his wife fell asleep at the wheel and struck a divider.
Cordell Patrick was traveling with his wife north on the 14 Freeway in Newhall to their home in Valencia on Monday when she slumped while driving just as he got up to use the toilet, KTLA reported.
“I had just unbuckled my seat belt. It was only unbuckled for five seconds,” Patrick told the outlet.
“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,” he said.
The motor home struck the divider at about 60 mph, sending Patrick tumbling out a window and into the opposite lanes.
Chilling dashcam video captured by another vehicle shows the RV grinding against the divider as Patrick rolls on the pavement after being flung about 170 feet across the road amid heavy traffic.
“All I’m thinking about is that I’m going to get hit by a car,” Patrick said. “I’m on one of the busiest freeways in LA County, so what was going through my mind was, ‘I’ll be dead shortly.’ ”
A white SUV can be seen swerving to avoid Patrick, who was severely injured.
“I just dragged myself and then I leaned up my back against the median until help could come and help came pretty quick,” he said.
Another motorist, Alf Smithey, pulled over when he saw the shocking scene.
‘Divine intervention’
“I noticed the guy is laying in the road still,” Smithey recounted to KTLA. “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,” Smithey said.
Patrick broke several bones, dislocated his shoulder and required 17 stitches on his head.
He was also left with a rash covering about 60 percent of his body, according to the outlet.
But he said he’s thankful to have miraculously survived the freak accident.
“It was divine intervention,” Patrick 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.”
His wife and their pooch were unharmed, but the RV largely was destroyed. According to his X bio, Patrick previously also worked as a studio host for the NFL Kansas City Chiefs and NBA San Antonio Spurs on local TV.