Driver whose car vaulted over tow truck says: ‘I thought I was going to die’
Jun 14, 2023, 9:38 AM
In this image taken from police body camera video provided by the Lowndes County, Ga., Sheriff's Office, a vehicle goes airborne after driving up the ramp of a flatbed tow truck on a Georgia highway, Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in Lowndes County, Ga. The Nissan Altima was launched 120 feet (37 meters) down the highway, according to a police report. The driver, a 21-year-old woman from Florida, was taken to South Georgia Medical Center with serious injuries. (Lowndes County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(Lowndes County Sheriff's Office via AP)
VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) — A woman whose car was captured on video vaulting into the air over a tow truck and crashing onto a Georgia highway says she’s recovering after spending two weeks in a hospital and undergoing several surgeries.
“I don’t really remember much, but I know that I thought I was going to die,” Tanaijsha Bruton told WALB-TV in an interview Tuesday. “It hurts really, really bad. I felt everything.”
A Lowndes County sheriff’s deputy was responding to an earlier wreck May 24 when his body camera recorded Bruton’s sedan flying into the air after driving up the ramp of a flatbed tow truck, which had stopped in the highway’s opposite left lane.
The car soared 120 feet (37 meters) before landing upside down, according to a police report. It struck another vehicle and tumbled end over end before coming to rest.
“When I go to sleep that’s pretty much what I dream about,” 21-year-old Bruton said. “It just replays over and over.”
Bruton was hospitalized in intensive care in neighboring Florida. She said her internal injuries required at least four surgeries and she’s grateful to have survived.
And she was stunned by the video footage of the crash, once she finally saw it.
“My family didn’t want to show me the video,” Bruton said. “But of course, I’m hardheaded and got on social media.”
