FORT SMITH (KFSM) — An unlikely friendship is established after a massive pileup happened Friday (Dec. 9) and a man who witnessed the crash stopped to help.
“It was crazy like we were just going normal and then all of a sudden trying to stop and everybody just kind of hit all at once,” said Brandy Falconer, who was in the middle of the eight-car pileup.
Falconer said she blacked out for a second and woke up with her green Kia Soul under a red sedan. It happened in the lane heading south on Interstate 540 on the Arkansas River Bridge.
“I was trying to get out because I was waiting on something to fall on me and completely squish me or hit me from behind,” Falconer said.
As bad as the crash was, Falconer only sustained minor injuries.
“My ribs are a little sore but everything else has kind of settled down,” she added.
Dylan Dean barely missed the chain-reaction crash. Like Falconer, he was headed to work that morning, but he decided to get out and help.
“I didn't know what to think honestly, I just got out and made sure everyone was OK,” Dean said.
He noticed Falconer didn’t have a coat on, and she was shaking from the cold. He decided to give her his jacket.
Dean said, “She had long sleeves on but she was cold and kind of freaked out... so, I just tried to calm her down and just trying to help out."
Shortly after the collision, Falconer posted the coat on various yard sale pages on Facebook, trying to return it to its owner.
“And then he messaged me that afternoon,” she said.
But Dean told her to keep it.
“It means like there's actually people who are nice still,” Falconer said.
Falconer said she only had her car for a couple months, but said she is just thankful God was looking out for her that day. She has two children, ages two and one.
Dean told her she is welcome to shop for a new car at the Nissan dealership where he works.