A driver T-boned in a Victoria intersection whose vehicle was thrown into a transit bus and broke apart on impact will be unable to work for about six months as he recovers from a bleeding kidney, bleeding lungs, a fractured vertebra, whiplash and a concussion.
David Bruun, 34, was driving home from work about 10:30 p.m. on March 20 when a speeding driver heading southbound through the intersection at Douglas and Bay streets ran a red light and slammed into his pickup truck, sending the vehicle crashing into a bus.
Bruun was discharged from hospital Monday and is at home resting and feeling grateful that his injuries weren’t worse.
“I got out of that miraculously well,” he said by phone Wednesday. “Looking at what happened to my truck, the back end evaporated, just disappeared from smashing into the bus so hard. I’m so glad somehow I lived through that.”
Bruun remembers leaving the Esquimalt jiu jitsu gym where he works and starting his drive home, but he can’t remember the crash or the following day. His memory resumed March 22 in hospital.
He has watched video of the crash, which shows the collision and bystanders helping him out of the car afterward, but the memory hasn’t returned.
Bruun is spending time resting at home and hopes to be back on the sidelines soon at Van Isle Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, where he teaches. He’s facing about six months before he’ll be able to return more fully to coaching, said Bruun, who is also an apprentice refrigeration mechanic.
Bruun said he’s reserving judgment on the driver of the car that hit him until he knows more. If the driver was having a medical incident at the time, “I wouldn’t blame that person a bit, because they couldn’t control it.”
He is going through the process of making a claim to ICBC and doesn’t know yet what compensation he will be eligible for.
A Go Fund Me has raised more than $18,000 as of Wednesday afternoon to help cover his living costs while he’s unable to work.
“David is incredibly lucky to be alive. This could have easily been a very different story,” says the page, created by Jean-Marc De Groot.
“Anyone who’s met David knows that he is literally one of the kindest, most generous and giving people alive. He never asks for anything, and always gives back in droves,” the page says.
Victoria police said the investigation into the crash is ongoing, and the department does not expect to have an update for at least a couple of weeks. Police were not able to provide updates on the condition of the driver and passenger of the car that T-boned Bruun’s pickup truck.
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