NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — NewsChannel 5 producer Whitt Laxson was driving into work Tuesday morning when the tornado warning was issued.
"I saw it and I was just like 'Oh no. This is not good," Laxson said.
Laxson is the producer for NewsChannel 5 This Morning at 7. He usually arrives at work between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. to begin working on his show.
"And right before I left my house I saw that there was a severe thunderstorm warning in Davidson County. I left my house anyway," he said.
Looking back, Laxson regrets leaving his house during severe weather.
"Right now I'm feeling like I'm an advocate for stay home in a storm," he said.
The 25-year-old drives into downtown from the west side. He said the sky changed colors on Tuesday when he got off the exit for Rosa L. Parks Ave.
"It was purple. It was very creepy," he said.
Laxson grew up in Giles County. He said he's never encountered conditions like he did on Tuesday morning.
"I've never been in any severe weather like that before, ever," he said.
As he got closer to NewsChannel 5, he called his coworker Annie Hobbs.
"I don't remember a lot about the conversation, but I think she told me 'there might be some hail,' that 'you might run into it'...and then it turned into 'you might be outrunning a tornado right now,'" he said.
Although Laxson put the pedal to the metal, he was no match for the strong tornado heading his direction.
"I just saw rain, a downpour, coming quickly. Then debris was flying right in front of me. I saw one piece of debris in rotation and then, it was just, I couldn't see anything there was so much debris hitting my car," he said.
Seconds later, Laxson and his car were thrown into an AutoZone parking lot by a tornado rotating at 125 mph.
"I never felt like my car was lifted off the ground. I never felt like a big landing moment. It just kind of blew me across the road..." he said.
The airbags deployed and three of his four windows shattered.
"I think I reached down and picked my phone up first and explained to Annie and said 'I've crashed,' and she said 'you've been in a tornado,'" Laxson said.
Laxson crawled out of the backseat window. A family waved him over to their car and he got inside.
"I basically saw him running for his life," Robert Griffin said about Laxson. "He looked like he was in trouble. I told my girl we got to get him in our car and that's what we did."
When it was safe, Laxson walked back over to his Nissan Murano and began snapping photos.
"I was part of the story and that was very strange to me. I'm not used to being a part of the stories we're covering," Laxson said.
In the midst of the chaos, Laxson was briefly interviewed by a NewsChannel 5 crew. The moment was shared by national news outlets.
"The third tornado in history to rip through downtown and there I was," he said.
Laxson is returning to work on Friday after resting for a few days.
"I'm sure I will have this epiphany about live life to the fullest, but... I want to get the message out to other people to get to your safe space and don't be out if you don't have to be out," Laxson said.
Nonetheless, he knows he is lucky to be alive.
"I lost two grandparents in the last year...I think they likely had a hand in this."
