Two victims in a fatal multi-vehicle crash in downtown Nashville shared what happened to them calling the freak accident emotional.
Cody Smith was dropping his roommate Allie Douthat off to work.
They waited at a traffic light near Peabody Street and 2nd Avenue South when the unthinkable happened.
"The van did like three flips and then it hit the other car. I feel like there was just dust and debris and everybody was almost frozen at the moment like nobody believed what was going on. It was almost surreal," Douthat explained.
The images of debris and people bleeding remained fixed in their minds.
"Literally five seconds changed everybody in those four cars lives forever," she said.
Police said a driver in a Ford van hit a taxi before landing on its side near the intersection.
Smith's car was also hit causing his front bumper to fall off and car axle to break.
Smith and Douthat weren't seriously and ran towards the driver in the van after the two saw what happened.
"The matter of the fact that he looked at me and was so helpless just looked me dead in the eyes and I looked at him, he just made me tear up and in all honesty I couldn't --- I'm not strong enough to lift a van," Smith said.
"It was traumatizing to see someone needing help and like wanting help and not being able to physically do anything about it," Douthat recalled.
Paramedics arrived to take a taxi passenger and the two people in the Ford van to the hospital.
The taxi driver 55 year-old Hizkias Woldegabriel died at the scene.
"I do hope that his wife and his kids are OK and I hope that they are able to overcome what is happening to them and move forward in the future," Douthat said.
Police have not released the cause of the accident as of Thursday.
Smith's car was impounded by police as the investigation continues. He said he only had his car for two months and it was his only source of income as a Lyft driver. He said he's trying to figure out how to get back to work.
Both said they wish they could change the entire outcome despite walking away with soreness in their backs.
Smith said after surviving this accident he's going to take one at a time and try to live stress free.
