David Bruun doesn’t remember the collision that left him with a serious concussion, fractured vertebrae and damage to multiple internal organs.
But watching the footage of the crash, Bruun admits he’s lucky to be alive.
“It was purely surreal,” he said of the security video that captures the horrific collision.
“Only the memory of it happening can make something like that sink in because you look at it and think how can anything survive that?”
The crash happened on March 20 at the intersection of Douglas and Bay streets in Victoria.
Bruun was driving home from teaching a Brazilian jiu-jitsu class when he entered the intersection with a green light and was T-boned by a speeding car.
“I only know from seeing the footage of it, but I got smoked by someone who, I don’t know how fast they were going, but they looked like they were going at least double the speed limit,” he said.
“The impact spun me around across the intersection and caused the back end of my truck to hit the front of a city bus … smashed its front pretty well and the back of my truck just atomized. It was pretty incredible to watch.”
In shocking video of the collision, Bruun’s truck can be seen slamming into the front of the transit bus while two pedestrians scramble to safety.
Incredibly, police said no one on the bus or in the other vehicle suffered serious injuries.
Bruun has been told he’s facing up to a year-long recovery period and must wear a neck brace to protect his spine. He continues to deal with concussion symptoms including headaches, light sensitivity and confusion.
He’s also been told to avoid any strenuous activities for the next six months due to bleeding in one kidney and lacerations to his lung, adrenal gland and pancreas.
It’s a difficult diagnosis for the refrigeration mechanic and black belt martial arts instructor, who describes his body as “essential” for his work.
“I know it’s going to be a long hard road of recovery, but I am going to be back stronger,” he said.
Bruun said he’s trying to keep positive for now and has been overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from his community after the collision.
The community at his jiu-jitsu gym has banded together and already helped to raise more than $16,000 for him.
“It says to me, that he is a very significant member of ours,” Joe Nunn with Van Isle Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu said.
“He’s probably going to need that to help him with his recovery, you know — help support himself, because he is not going to be able to work.”
Bruun said he isn’t in a rush to make assumptions about the driver behind the wheel of the other vehicle.
“It really does make a difference if the person who was driving was having some sort of medical distress at the time and was unable to stop or avoid hitting me. If that was the case then I forgive them completely.”
At the time of the crash, police said they were investigating the possibility the other driver was impaired and had collected a blood sample.
Police said Wednesday they are still investigating but did not have an update to share.
In the meantime, Bruun is speaking out in hopes of spurring change at the intersection, which according to ICBC saw 81 crashes between 2018 and 2022.
“Maybe sharing my story and talking to everybody is what it takes to make some decision-makers make some decisions and do something to physically change the intersection,” he said.
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