Man Survives Horrific Crash

March 17, 2006 — -- No one understands how Bryan Pacelli survived a terrible car accident on the Long Island Expressway. An out-of-control tractor-trailer careened across the highway, pushed his small, black Audi into the median, and plowed into a bus.

The car was destroyed, but Pacelli, 39, came away basically unscathed. "I've been in the car business 20 years, and I've never seen anyone come out of a car that looked like that in one piece."

"I've been picking glass out of my scalp for two days," he said.

Pacelli, a father of two, has a herniated disk in his neck, a couple of pinched nerves, and some scratches. No one can believe it -- especially after watching the dramatic video captured by a camera mounted on the dashboard of the bus. He cannot remember the accident, but his wife, Kelly, passed the crash site as she was rushed to Nassau University Medical Center.

"The officer who pulled him out visited … expected a fatality," Kelly Pacelli said. "I feel extremely fortunate because my husband is here -- and he shouldn't be."

The camera that caught the crash was installed by DriveCam, a firm that places the units on commercial vehicles so companies can monitor their employees' driving and analyze what went wrong in a crash.

"We can take a look at the video and the audio. We can coach the driver on what he or she could have done differently or should have [done] differently," said Bruce Moeller, the CEO of DriveCam.

The Pacellis hadn't seen the tape of the crash until ABC News showed it to them. Bryan Pacelli was not prepared for what he saw, and both he and his wife began crying.

"Oh. … That was ugly," he said. "Holy … cow. That's disgusting. That's disgusting. I did not expect that."

There is no good explanation for why Pacelli survived. An Audi dealer, he credits his Audi TT and faith.

"The car did its job," he said. "The car was smashed to smithereens. The entire passenger compartment of the car is still intact."

The tractor-trailer was sited for a missing tax sticker, bald tires, improper registration for weight, and for carrying 16,000 pounds above the maximum weight.