KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar BluffLocal man describes miraculous survival after crash, fall into creek

Local man describes miraculous survival after crash, fall into creek

By CJ Cassidy - bio | email

(KFVS) - A Jackson man says he's more than lucky to be alive, following a bizarre series of events early Monday morning.

Thomas Brown, 52, is now recovering from his injuries.

He survived a car crash, an incredible fall into a creek and a near drowning, all in the space of a few minutes.  Now the survivor calls his experience, nothing short of a miracle.

"I didn't get but my knuckles cut and my leg, and my lungs bruised and my rib cracked and a cut spleen," Brown said.

That might sound like a lot to deal with, until you hear Brown's story.

"It was raining," he said. "I was at Herculaneum, and the car in front of me started fish tailing and I hit the brakes and I started fish tailing and I went into a spin and I hit one side of the bridge, spun and hit the other side."

The Meadow Heights basketball coach says that was when his whole world began spinning out of control.

When his car came to a stop, Brown stepped out into the early morning darkness and looked straight into the fast approaching headlights of a truck.

"It was coming right at me," he said. "I thought I better get over the railing before I got hit. I thought I was stepping over a rail, and I stepped over and fell 100 feet into a creek."

Police say overhead, the truck smashed into Brown's car, leaving it a crumpled mess, while underwater the shocked and dazed man fought for his life.

"I went under, got tired, and I came back up and said I didn't want to drown," Brown said. "I don't want to drown. I didn't want to die and I just turned and went downstream."

In fact, Brown says he has a lot to live for.

"I do," he said. "I teach and I love the kids, I go and see them everyday and my family. I didn't want to die."

Brown says his will to survive gave him the extra strength he needed to pull himself to safety, and emergency crews soon had him laid up in a hospital with his son at his side.

Now, Brown's mother says his amazing story will no doubt be told for generations.

"I think God had something to do with this," Violetta Minton said.

As for Brown himself, he says he's ready to bounce back and get back on the basketball court where he belongs.

"Me and my daughter was talking about sky diving and I said that would be interesting but I don't know if I would want to do that and then ironically next day I'm falling off a bridge," he said.

Police Chief Chris Pigg in Herculaneum says the creek Brown fell into is usually dry, but because of the rain, just happened to have about six or seven feet of water in it, otherwise he would have died.

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