Niki Taylor Out of Surgery for Crash Injuries
May 3 -- Supermodel Niki Taylor underwent surgery today on her lungs and liver for life-threatening injuries she suffered in a car accident early Sunday.
Taylor, 26, came out of surgery at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital at around 2:30 p.m., according to hospital spokeswoman Denise Simpson. She said Taylor is in critical condition.
Taylor's manager, Lou Taylor (no relation), said in an earlier statement that the Cover Girl model went into surgery at 8 a.m.
Her doctor said earlier in the week that Taylor suffered serious injuries to her liver and duodenum, and her injuries were "life-threatening and would remain life-threatening for several weeks."
Driver: ‘I Was Distracted’
She was hurt early Sunday when the car in which she was riding crashed into a utility pole. She was wearing a seat belt, according to the car's driver, a longtime friend of the model, who also said the 1993 Nissan Maxima did not have a passenger-side air bag.
The driver, Chad Renegar, said he was distracted by his cell phone ringing as he drove down an off-ramp, and when he took his eyes off the road to reach for the phone, he lost control of the car. Renegar and the other passenger were not seriously hurt.
"I was distracted by something that was not part of what I should have been doing at the moment, which was driving," Renegar told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America today. "The result of that has changed the lives of three people and their families.
"Think about things like that. There's nothing on that phone that can be nearly as important as what's going on in front of you."
Renegar told police he lost control of the car near downtown Atlanta. He was given a ticket for striking a stationary object and having no proof of insurance, but police said they did not suspect drugs or alcohol contributed to the accident.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says distracted driving causes one-quarter of the nation's 6.3 million annual automobile accidents, and in some parts of the country there have been efforts to make it illegal to use hand-held phones while driving.
