Former ESPN sportscaster Cordell Patrick survived a crash this week in which he was ejected from his recreational vehicle.
Patrick and his wife were returning from a camping trip and on their way home to Valencia, California traveling on State Route 14. Patrick described the events to several Los Angeles television stations and said his wife was at the wheel of the RV and went to use the restroom.
“It was a blur. It was crazy. I don’t know how I’m alive,” Patrick told KCAL/KCBS.
“I had just unbuckled my seat belt — it was unbuckled for five seconds,” Patrick told KTLA. “I noticed my wife had dozed off … we are headed toward the median and I tried to grab the steering wheel, but before I could grab the steering wheel, we already had impact.”
The impact of the crash threw Patrick out of the driver-side window and over the center median wall. The dashcam from another vehicle showed Patrick ending up on the other side of the freeway and a car narrowly missing him as he pulled himself up on the highway divider.
“By the grace of God I’m still here, man,” he told KABC-TV.
Patrick suffered multiple broken bones, including a dislocated shoulder, and road rash covering about 60 percent of his body.