Zacharie Perez Survives Dallas Motorcycle Crash Caught on Tape
Zacharie Perez, 25, thrown off motorcycle, sandwiched between two cars.
April 26, 2011 — -- Surveillance video shows Texas man Zacharie Perez being smashed between two cars and thrown off of his motorcycle on a Dallas tollway.
Perez miraculously survived.
"The last thing I remember is basically just a loud noise, a loud crash and I remember landing on the ground, trying to push myself back to the left lane, so that I wouldn't get hit...Some of the witnesses came by and told me to stay down," Perez said.
The accident happened March 17. Perez was riding in the left lane of a three lane highway. Perez, wearing his helmet, can be seen getting hit by a silver car.
"I was about five to 10 minutes from being home. I passed this car, the car that actually rear ended me... As I passed them, the people in front of me started slowing down," he said.
The silver car didn't slow down, hitting the 25-year-old Army veteran and pushing him towards a green car in front of him. Perez and his motorcycle disappear between the silver car and green car. As the cars move, Perez can be seen rolling on the highway in pain. A white SUV swerved to avoid hitting the man as the cars come to a stop.
The Army veteran was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
"I was in excruciating pain...The spleen was ruptured. I was bleeding internally, so they had to remove that... And then I had four broken vertebrae, I had a broken rib...I had road rash obviously. I've got a lumbar hernia," he said.
Perez said doctors are still determining if he'll need surgery to treat his hernia. Perez said that his helmet saved his life. In Texas, motorcycle drivers don't have to wear helmets.
"If I wouldn't have worn my helmet, I don't think I'd be here right now. I'd still be in the hospital or I'd probably be dead," he said.
Perez's fiancee doesn't want him back on a motorcycle anytime soon.
"I can understand where she's coming from..it was rough, it was definitely rough to deal with," he said.
The driver of the car that hit Perez was driving with no license and no insurance. Perez is upset that he wasn't arrested.
"It just baffles me…I think he should have got arrested," he said.