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Survivor of horrific I-675 crash appears on Today Show

Video: Crash caught on video

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By Kelli Wynn, Staff Writer Updated 2:04 PM Friday, December 10, 2010

The 19-year-old Mason man who survived a dramatic crash on Interstate 675 and made national headlines was interviewed on NBC’s Today Show.

The taped interview aired around 7:30 a.m. Friday.

The crash occurred about 7:15 a.m. on Aug. 23 in Sugarcreek Twp. when Brennan Eden’s Pontiac Firebird went into the median, hit a guardrail and went airborne into an overpass column at Wagner Road.

A Sugarcreek Twp. police cruiser, on routine duty, caught the crash on camera, and the video was played on newscasts and websites around the country. The cruiser cam footage showed Eden’s car smashing into pieces and his body bouncing across the highway.

Eden didn’t have an explanation for what caused the accident and told the Today Show, “I just remember driving regularly the speed limit. Just like anyone else.”

The Today Show report said Eden’s mother, Andrea Eden-Shingleton, a trauma nurse, was 45 minutes away during the time of the accident.

“I was wondering what I was going to see, how was I going to be able to handle him in such critical condition,” Eden-Shingleton said.

Eden had four surgeries and was released from the Drake Rehabilitation Hospital in Cincinnati in September. The Today Show report said he had to learn to walk again and that there is no medical explanation that would explain his survival. The reporter suggested that the fact that Eden was thrown from the car might have played a role in saving his life.

“I don’t remember any speeding, crashing, nothing,” Eden said.

Shortly before the accident, Eden was arrested by Beavercreek Police on charges including possession of alcohol, drug paraphernalia and drug abuse after officers said he was found with a 15-year-old Beavercreek girl in the parking lot near the corner of Beaver Vu Drive and North Fairfield Road.

An officer approached the vehicle because it in the parking lot of a closed business at such an early hour. The officer found an unopened can of alcohol, a trace of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the car.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol investigated the I-675 accident and determined that there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs in Eden’s body.

On Dec. 2, Eden was convicted of three misdemeanors: reckless operation, plus possession of drug paraphernalia and a disorderly conduct charge stemming from the incident that happened in Beavercreek before the crash. His driving privileges were suspended for two years, he was placed on probation for two years, and he was fined $400, according to Fairborn Municipal Court records.

“Probably doing things I shouldn’t be doing,” Eden said in the interview. “Probably looking back I wouldn’t do them again.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2414 or kwynn@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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