*The above video shows the crash happen on the highway Tuesday morning*
CLEVELAND (WJW) — The victim in an overnight crash is speaking out to Fox 8 News hours after an alleged drunk driver smashed into his emergency vehicle.
“I’ve got a contusion, scraping of the skin, a little hematoma on the back of my head, but the headache is pretty much gone now,“ said 63-year-old Rufus Kilpatrick of Parma.
Kilpatrick, who is a volunteer North Coast emergency services driver, was helping on the side of the road when he said the crash happened in a flash.
“The vehicle was coming so fast around around that curve, I would say 80 miles an hour.”
The crash happened early Tuesday morning on I-71 north at Denison Avenue.
Investigators said 31-year-old Caitlyn Jones slammed into the back of Kilpatrick’s truck causing her car to spin out of control.
Troopers said she had a blood alcohol level of .170, and was charged with OVI and driving with a suspended license.
Kilpatrick, who has been driving trucks for more than three decades, was trapped inside his vehicle but was able to crawl out of the wreckage through a passenger side window.
This crash is hitting too close to home for Kilpatrick who said his older brother was killed in a drunk driving accident 50 years ago this Saturday.
Jennifer Jordan
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