The former ESPN broadcaster who was thrown from his RV on a busy California highway recalled his horror at seeing the now-viral video of his fall — saying he realizes he “shouldn’t be alive.”
Cordell Patrick was still trying to wrap his head around how he managed to fly out of the vehicle on 14 Freeway in Newhall on Monday after his wife fell asleep at the wheel about 30 miles north of Los Angeles.
“We were 10 minutes from home. I stood up to use the restroom, and at that moment my wife dozed off,” a heavily bandaged Patrick told NBC Los Angeles from his hospital bed Wednesday.
He ran to grab the wheel while the brand-new RV was veering into the concrete divider at 60 mph — but it was too late, he said. The impact sent him hurling out the window and sliding across opposite lanes.
Horrifying dashcam video shows him tumbling on the pavement, leaving him with broken bones, cuts and extensive road rash.
“I knew I need to get up, or I was going to die,” Patrick told the outlet. “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.”
He also told CBS News LA that the incident was “indescribable.”
“I didn’t know what was going on. I thought the entire side of the RV had been ripped off. I was trying to figure out, ‘Why am I outside?’” he told the outlet.
Luckily, another motorist witnessed the accident and pulled over to help.
“You just see dust, smoke, Alf Smithey told the NBC station, saying the driver the driver “slides along the center divider for 600 feet or so.”
The good Samaritan first spoke to Patrick’s wife, who had pulled over about 300 feet from where he fell out.
“‘She kept saying, ‘My husband is not here. My husband is not here,’” Smithey said. “Then she kept looking out the window behind her.”
It took the motorist a few seconds to locate Patrick because he was lying on the other side of the divider.
“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.”
Graphic video posted on Instagram by @scv_incidents shows first responders rendering first aid to Patrick, who is wearing a neck brace while traffic is back up.
The accident broke his collar bone, two bones on his leg and a few toes, according to CBS LA. He also suffered severe road rash and needed to get stitches on the forehead.
Patrick said he believes his college basketball career may have helped him survive the trauma, according to the outlet.
He said he was shocked by all the media attention and the widely circulated footage that showed him rolling down the highway amid heavy traffic.
“People started sending me the video of me being thrown from the RV,” he told NBC LA. “After that, I just got down on my knees and thanked God because I shouldn’t be alive.”
Patrick, who previously worked as a studio host for the Chiefs and Spurs on local TV stations. added: “That was divine intervention and nothing else.”
His wife and their pooch were unharmed in the accident, which left their new RV largely destroyed while they were heading home from a camping trip.
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