SPRING HILL, Fla. — The Florida Highway Patrol says the brakes on a car malfunctioned, sending it crashing into diners at a Beef O’ Brady’s. Six people, including the driver, were rushed to the hospital after it happened Tuesday.
Richard Nelson’s wife, Nancy, is the only one still in the hospital.
“I just had a hard time believing how anybody could really survive,” Richard said, reflecting on the crash scene.
Nancy was sitting in the worst possible spot when the car crashed through the wall of the restaurant.
“You see this stuff happen,” Richard said. “Do you think it's ever going to happen to you? No.”
Nancy and a friend were eating lunch at a booth. In surveillance video provided by FHP, you can see the car approaching through the window. One of them winces, and the car comes bursting through the wall. Nancy got pinned under it.
“All she seen was her friend duck, and that was the end of it until they airlifted her to the hospital,” Richard said.
Richard says his wife has nine broken ribs, and fractures in her back, face and ankles.
“If you could see her now, stitches and black and blue from head to toe,” he explained. “You just wonder how she made it.”
After days of investigating, FHP troopers said the car's brakes malfunctioned, causing the crash. However, their report doesn't get into any more detail. They ticketed the driver for unsafe equipment.
“If you knew there was something wrong before, it's one thing,” Richard said. “If it happened and you didn't know it, that's another thing.”
Richard is dismissing the crash as an accident, and focusing his energy on his wife's recovery.
“She'll be all right,” he said. “She's a tough gal, but it's just going to take a long, long time to get back to normal again.”
Florida does not have mandated vehicle safety inspections, the way many other states do. It's not clear whether a state inspection would've identified a problem and prevented this crash from happening.
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