A man who was thrown from an RV onto a Southern California freeway said he had just stood up moments earlier when he felt the hulking vehicle lurch across lanes and into the concrete center divider in a frightening crash that hurled him out a window.
Cordell Patrick, his head wrapped in bandages, spoke Tuesday from his hospital bed about the harrowing chain of events Monday on the 14 Freeway in the Newhall area, about 30 miles north of Los Angeles.
"We were 10 minutes from home," Patrick said. "I stood up to use the restroom, and at that moment my wife dozed off."
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The RV felt as though it was going sideways across lanes, he said. He ran to the front to take control of the wheel, but he was too late. The RV pitched into the concrete median, tossing Patrick out the window.
Patrick said he desperately struggled to get up after sliding an estimated 170 feet down the freeway, but looked down to see a gruesome injury.
"I knew I need to get up, or I was going to die," Patrick said. "I looked at my right ankle, and it was pointed backwards. So, there was going to be no walking. I just started scooting myself to the median."
People started sending me the video of me being thrown from the RV. After that, I just got down on my knees and thanked god because I shouldn't be alive.
Cordell Patrick
Alf Smithey stopped to help after witnessing the crash.
"You just see dust, smoke. (The driver) slides along the center divider for 600 feet or so," said Smithey, who was not immediately aware a passenger had fallen out of the vehicle.
Smithey first spoke to Patrick's wife, who had pulled over in the RV about 300 feet from where Patrick fell out. He quickly pieced together the bizarre and confusing chain of events.
"'She kept saying, 'My husband is not here. My husband is not here,'" Smithey said. "Then she kept looking out the window behind her."
He ran back along the center divider to find Patrick against the median. He was covered in road rashes, cuts and bruises with a gash to his head.
"His biggest concern was, 'How was my wife?'" Smithey said. "I was like, 'You’re the one who flew out of the vehicle.' He was more concerned about her."
Patrick's wife and their dog were not injured. He is scheduled for more surgery later this week.
Patrick said he was stunned by what he saw after people sent him widely circulated video that showed him falling onto the freeway with heavy traffic speeding past.
"People started sending me the video of me being thrown from the RV," he said. "After that, I just got down on my knees and thanked god because I shouldn't be alive."
