Shocking dashcam video shows a former ESPN sportscaster being ejected from his family’s RV after his wife fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into a median on a California freeway.
Cordell Patrick had just unbuckled his seat belt to use the bathroom when he noticed that his wife, who was driving, had dozed off. He moved to grab the wheel and take control of the RV, but before he could, the vehicle slammed into the median, and Patrick was ejected onto the opposite side of the freeway.
NEW: Former ESPN sportscaster Cordell Patrick gets thrown from his RV traveling 60 miles per hour on the freeway in California.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 17, 2024
This is insane.
Right as Patrick had gotten up to use the bathroom, his wife fell asleep causing the vehicle to run into the center divider.
Luckily,… pic.twitter.com/45Jo6cK0GN
It is believed that Patrick was flung roughly 170 feet through the air.
“All I’m thinking about is that I’m going to get hit by a car,” Patrick told KTLA. “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.
“I just dragged myself, and then I leaned up my back against the median until help could come, and help came pretty quick,” Patrick told the outlet.
Motorist Alf Smithey pulled over to assist Patrick.
“I noticed the guy is laying in the road still,” Smithey told KTLA.
“I was just trying to keep cars away from him. He was all the way there [conscious]. That was the shocking part.”
Smithey continued, “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.”
As for Patrick’s injuries, they are extensive. The former ESPN commentator suffered a massive rash covering much of his body, in addition to breaking several bones, a dislocated shoulder, and 17 stitches on his head.
However, as for Patrick, he’s just happy to be alive. And he knows exactly who to thank for that.
“It was divine intervention,” Patrick told KTLA. “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.”