Man who came within INCHES of being crushed by out-of-control driver recounts near-death experience as crash video goes viral
A man who narrowly dodged death when a reckless driver came hurtling toward him at a Nebraska gas station thought he ‘wasn’t gonna make it out’ – before selflessly rushing to help the motorist who nearly killed him.
Brady Johnson, 40, opened up to the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview after video of his miraculous escape went viral.
Johnson, a general contractor and Iraq War veteran, had just finished helping a friend shingle his house when he stopped at the Get-n-Go gas station in Brady last Friday night.
Heart-stopping security video showed Johnson washing his work truck’s windshield as a Nissan Altima suddenly barreled into view, skidding sideways on the street and smashing through an electric pole next to him.
As the car violently flipped and headed directly for Johnson, he managed to sprint out of the way with a squeegee still in hand.
‘When I turned around and saw that telephone pole in the air and everything coming with it, I just braced at one point,’ he recalled.
‘I just knew that I wasn’t gonna make it out of there, and somehow I did.’
Despite his shock, the Army veteran immediately ran over to the mangled vehicle to check on the driver.
Brady Johnson, 40, said he braced for the worst as the car came barreling directly at him: ‘I just knew that I wasn’t gonna make it out of there, and somehow I did’
Johnson, an Iraq War veteran, had stopped off a gas station and was washing his windshield as a driver came screeching down the street
‘The door was stuck, I messed with the door a little bit, got it open and he initially tried coming out of the vehicle,’ Johnson said, explaining that his time working as a volunteer firefighter taught him never to move injury victims until their necks are stabilized.
‘I just kind of got him to sit down for a second, take a breath, tried to figure out where he was hurt so I knew how I had to carry him out of there. And he wouldn’t speak. He was in shock.’
Johnson said that a friend arrived at the scene with his wife, and the three of them removed the driver while carefully bracing his neck before an ambulance arrived.
The driver, whose identity was not released by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, was taken to the hospital with only minor injuries.
Johnson, who described the driver as between 25 and 30 years old, believed he had fallen asleep at the wheel.
‘I’m not upset with the driver at all, accidents happen,’ he said.
Police cited the motorist for reckless driving, saying investigators determined he was traveling at least 65 miles per hour in a 40-mile-per-hour zone.
He was also cited for not having a license or proof of insurance, as well as expired registration.
Johnson suffered a minor leg injury, which only started to bother him later when the adrenaline from the crash wore off, police said.
Shocking security video showed a Nissan Altima skidding sideways on the street and smashing through an electric pole
Johnson managed to sprint out of the way as the car violently flipped in his direction
He estimated the damage to his car to be in the $20,000 to $30,000 range
‘When it all happened, I didn’t realize I even hurt myself until later that night, the next morning,’ he said, still unsure of what exactly hit him.
Shortly after the wreck, Johnson said he called the gas station’s owner, who is a friend, and asked him to watch the security video.
‘I said, “Can you look on your [camera] and see how close I was to dying?”‘ he laughed. ‘He sent it back to me. He’s like, “Holy—.”‘
He estimated the damage to his car to be in the $20,000 to $30,000 range, but for now he is just happy to be alive.
‘I didn’t think there was any way I was making out of it, so I’m very very grateful,’ he said. ‘Definitely somebody watching over me.’
