LINCOLN COUNTY, Okla. — After fatal accident, a driver talks about how he barely escaped the same reckless motorist.
Shattered glass, mangled metal, and an overturned car with the entire roof peeled off; this is what the scene looked like Friday morning in Luther following a fatal accident.
Eddie Bruder had no idea this is how his day would turn out. Just moments after pulling out of his driveway headed for work, he made his way onto Highway 66.
“A car came flying down the hill crashing into me. I let go of the throttle thinking they would back off and go around and then I realized they were continuing to push me down the highway. I probably got pushed about 300-400 hundred feet,” said Bruder.
He said the reckless driver later identified as 33-year-old Karaina Meeker wouldn’t leave him alone. He said she was all over the road – sometimes behind him… at times speeding in front of him.
Bruder said, “I backed off because I didn’t know if they were going to try to ram me again or shoot. I just thought they had me mixed up with someone else.”
But it doesn’t end there.
“I don’t know what they were thinking, because they continued 90 or100 miles and hour long after I let off,” said Bruder.
As Meeker sped out of Lincoln County into Oklahoma County near Luther – deputies say she topped a hill on the wrong side of the road – smashing into a white truck—killing 76 year old Jim Parton who was driving.
“Everything was just so senseless, how do you even do that,” said Lincoln County Sheriff Charlie Dougherty.
“Unfortunately the whole incident played out in a matter of three minutes there wasn’t much anybody could do. Everything was in God’s hands.”
After his own near misses with the woman, Bruder is only thinking about the elderly man who had no chance to escape the violent driver
“My heart goes out to the gentlemen who passed.”
Karaina Meeker was mediflighted to an Oklahoma City hospital and underwent surgery this afternoon. Friday evening, hospital officials said she remains in serious condition but is expected to survive.
As for the victim, Parton, he would have turned 77 later this month.