TACOMA, Wash. — A father of three is recovering from six surgeries and 20 days in the hospital after a suspected DUI driver slammed into his truck on his way home from a Mariners game on Aug. 4.
"We were just driving home, and then I see this car just kind of coming our direction, and it was kind of swerving a little, but I didn't worry," said Sophia, daughter of Eugene Johnson. "I heard a loud crash, and it just kind of freaked out."
Sophia, 12, witnessed the entire crash. Her mother Janet was driving behind their father around 6 p.m. on Southwest Dash Point Road in Federal Way.
The Johnsons' 7-year-old son Joshua and his friend were in the truck that flipped.
Eugene was rushed to the hospital where he underwent six surgeries and spent nearly three weeks in a hospital bed.
"I had a broken forearm. I had a broken nose. I had a broken lower back, a broken left foot, and then a broken right heel and foot," Eugene said. "I definitely feel like it was a game of inches when it came to my life."
Eugene believes his grandfather was watching over him the day of the crash. The truck he was driving belonged to his grandfather Thomas Lee Johnson Senior, who served as a sergeant in the military as a tank commander.
"It's definitely a loss to the family of that sentimental treasure, essentially. But, yeah, we just got to focus on the positive. The main thing [is] that I'm alive, that my kids are, [and that] Joshua wasn't hurt," Eugene said.
The Johnson family hopes their story will force others to think twice about getting behind the wheel impaired.
"If you are drunk driving, you put your life in danger, and You put other lives in danger," Sophia said. "Just don't do it. It's not worth it," Janet added.
The suspect in this case was arrested for vehicular assault and the investigation is ongoing.
The Johnsons said the suspect does not have car insurance so financially, they are trying to figure out how to cover expenses. A GoFundMe has been created to help the family recoup the losses they've incurred during this difficult time.