You may have seen the following video while flipping around and kicking back to one of a thousand “Amazing Car Crashes” shows on cable. It features then 19-year-old Brennan Eden going airborne in his Firebird that was zooming at over 100mph and crashing into an overpass. His car disintegrates as you watch it from the perspective of a police cruiser’s dashboard camera.
Usually when I’m watching these I’ve got the TV on mute so I would have missed out on the impossibly big part of this story. Brennan Eden survived. Not only did he survive but he’s doing well now considering and his accident will be featured on National Geographic’s The Indestructibles on Fox’s National Geographic Channel Sunday at 10:30 PM EST.
Here’s the clip followed by a breakdown as the investigator explains how on Earth he lived:
Following that crash his parents were praying that he would just wake up as he laid in a Dayton, OH area hospital. Doctors feared the likelihood that he would be paralyzed if he even survived. He did survive and as he told Cincinatti.com his life today is “much the same as it was before” that accident which occurred on Aug. 23, 2010.
He suffered broken bones in his legs, pelvis and back as well as skid marks and burns on his legs and face. As for why he was driving so recklessly he believes that he fell asleep at the wheel following a visit to a friend and a 5PM to 1AM night shift at work. At the time of the sensational collision he had been up for 20hrs straight. No alcohol or drugs were found in his system but he was cited for having a unopen beer can in the car and a trace of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
The crash investigator featured on the show, Tim Leggett, explains the numerous factors that all happened to keep Brennan Eden alive.
-> The car rotated due to the ramp so that the passenger side took the initial blunt force of the crash.
-> The disintegration of the car actually diffused energy before it got to Eden.
-> Eden fell at an angle and slid down the highway which allowed him to avoid life-threatening injuries.
^Story House
Eden currently is a stay-at-home dad and a Sunday School teacher. While Legget explains the science behind his survival Eden and his family have a bigger picture idea of why he’s alive:
“Eight to 10 things had to happen for him to be alive. I don’t believe in luck. We believe it was an act of God to save his life.”
I think I’m with the Edens on this one. Incredible.
Top Photo: André Goetzmann
