Raw recount of the crash

We were off to a great weekend after our wedding on Wed. It was a beautiful fall bay area day. Sunny skies, no breeze, just perfect. Heather and I had stayed up late making the final cupcakes, frosting and ganache for the weekend. Mom and Jennifer had worked tirelessly on the preparations all week, starting with the BBQ and culminating in the weekend food and fun. We were going to Shinneyboo Creek cabins to celebrate our wedding with friends and family. On the way out of town, we were running a bit late, we grabbed food at Bi-rite and got some gas. Mom and Jennifer were driving Heather’s Golf, loaded down with the karaoke gear, all the wine and food, bikes and gear. Heather and I were in the Miata which did not have too much of a load. It was uneventful as we crossed the Bay Bridge and headed up I-80. Heather and I were eating a sandwich and some chips as we drove along in the carpool lane at about 70-75. We chatted about the weekend to come and the fun we would have. We were all so looking forward to the time together in the mountains. Mom and Jen were following behind us with Mom driving. As we sped along the car ahead of us suddenly swerved to the right. Immediately there was a car coming directly at us in the carpool lane. It was going the wrong way, driving against traffic.

I had no time to think and pulled the wheel hard to the right, missing the car by inches. I looked into the rearview mirror as I saw the car disappear behind a large black truck. I saw an explosion of car parts and knew that there was a head-on collision. I hoped that it was not my mom and sister. Heather’s and my bikes rocketed into the middle of the expressway and I knew that they had been hit. I started screaming “they hit mom and jen, they hit mom and jen” as I braked the car to a stop in the middle lane. Heather was screaming, and I jumped out and began sprinting back towards my mom and sister. As I ran past the car that struck them, I saw the driver leaning back on the seat, unconscious, airbag deployed, with smoke coming from under the crushed hood.

I then saw Heather's Golf, the car mom was driving with Jen in the passenger's seat. The front of the car was absolutely destroyed. It was smashed back to the windshield, which was broken, and the front windows were both broken out. They had to be killed. I almost fell as I got to the driver's door where I saw Mom and Jen both slumped forward, unconscious, over the deflated airbags. The entire time I was screaming "no, no, no" in complete disbelief. Heather had run to the passenger's side and was screaming over and over as people started to gather around the car. I knelt down in the glass and gently cradled my mom's head. "Mom, mom. Talk to me, please talk to me. Someone fucking help me get her out of the car! Mom, I'm here." She started to make noises and I could tell she was hurt badly. Her left leg had a huge lump that I could see through her pants and was obviously broken. "Talk to me, talk to me! Someone help me!" I could see Jennifer starting to stir, and Heather was helping her to get out of the car.

As they began to walk around the car, I stood up and realized that mom's seat had been pushed so far forward that she was smashed under the steering wheel. I knelt back down and tried to scoot the seat back, but the tracks were destroyed. By this time she said "get me out of here, I can't feel my legs." "I'm going to get you out mom, don't worry. You guys help me tear this door out of the way so we can scoot this seat back!" We tried to bend the door backward out of the way, and then a guy arrived with a 4 foot long piece of pipe. I grabbed it from him and tried to leverage the seat back somewhat to relieve the pressure on mom's chest and thighs. It would not budge. I tried to crank the angle adjuster, but everything was just too bent. There was no movement possible. "You guys help me bend this seat back, I need all of you to help!" We began pushing on the seat back, with me in the back seat, barefoot, pulling the seat as hard as I could. It would flex a bit, but would not stay. "I'm a nurse, and I need you to stay back from the car," said a woman in street clothes. "Fuck you, get the fuck away from the car, we've got to get her out!"

I was in a mad fury scrambling back and forth, pushing the seat, pulling it back, in the passenger seat trying to relieve any pressure. I noticed a large lump in mom's right arm, and I knew it had to be broken as well. "This is not what we are fucking doing today!" I thought over and over. There was blood on her face, around her nose and mouth. I had no idea if she was bleeding internally or not, but I was sure she would die at the scene. There was blood on my clothes, and I had many cuts and scrapes that I would not notice until later. It occurred to me that the jack might be helpful, so I frantically sprinted to the driver's door and unlatched the hatch. All the stuff for the weekend - cupcakes, karaoke equipment, cd's, bocce set, clothes bags - I threw out onto the freeway as I focused on the one tool in the car that might have enough force to help. I found the jack and ran to the passenger's side. Mom was moaning and I futilely looked at the jack and the car's smashed interior, hoping to see the magic placement that would allow me to move the seat back. There was nothing. I felt so helpless and useless. My entire perception of the world had been turned upside down. We were meeting 60 friends at the cabins, not pulling my family from a crushed car.

Emt's began arriving and asked me to move aside. I ran back to mom and told her that they were there to help and that she was going to be OK. Jennifer was sitting on the side of the freeway, leaning against the divider where Heather had taken her. "Are you OK Jen?" She gave a jumbled, nonsensical, response. She looked OK physically, but could not make words. Heather ran up to me - "you need to move the Miata out of the way!" It was still sitting in the middle of I-80. I told her the keys were in the ignition, but they were not. I ran to the car and found them on the floorboard under the driver's seat. I have no idea how they got there. Quickly I pulled the Miata out of traffic and ran back to the scene. The EMT's were cutting the car apart, and I started pacing up and down the freeway, hyperventilating. I pulled my phone and called my Dad. "Dad, Jen's OK, but she and mom were in a terrible car accident." I explained as best as I could and got off. I called Ty. By this time the chopper was circling. "Fucking land already!"

With no way to help, I went across the highway into the bushes and took a piss. I was walking through stickers. I was trembling and sick to my stomach. The copter landed in the middle of the freeway. I went back to the scene and the main EMT told me they had her out of the car and would be taking her to Walnut Creek. As they wheeled the gurney towards the copter, I ran across the highway to mom. "Get away from the gurney!" "Mom, mom, you're going to be OK. They are taking you to the hospital. I love you!" Here eyes were open and she looked at me, but did not speak from under the oxygen mask. “You’re going to be fine, they’ll take good care of you.” Running toward the copter, sobbing. "Get away from the helicopter!" I stopped and watched as they wheeled the gurney into the back. Jennifer was already loaded into the ambulace parked just ahead. "You should get in your car before we open traffic so you can get to the hospital as quickly as possible" the cop said. Heather and I waited until the HC lifted off and then ran to the Miata and followed the ambulance to John Muir Trauma center. 85mph most of the way.