A martial arts instructor whose truck was T-boned in a Victoria intersection with such force that it broke apart on impact with a city bus, has told friends and colleagues he plans to be back at work within weeks.
David Bruun, 34, was the driver of a pickup truck that was hit in the Douglas and Bay streets intersection by a speeding car that ran a red light about 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday night. He called a friend from hospital the same night to ask him to cover his work shift.
Bruun is an instructor at Van Isle Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, martial arts for kids and adults, at 941 Ellery St. in Esquimalt.
Joe Nunn, a close friend, said it’s just like Bruun to be so responsible and dedicated as to worry about his students and colleagues, even though he’d just experienced a “horrific” incident that could easily have killed him.
“At the time when he called I didn’t know the severity of it,” said Nunn. “He said, ‘I got hit by a bus, can you cover my shift?’”
Bruun didn’t go into much detail; “he didn’t even tell me he was in hospital,” said Nunn.
When Nunn got home Wednesday night, he watched surveillance video circulating of the high-speed impact.
The video shows Bruun’s white pickup travelling east on Bay Street when it was hit and spun backwards across the intersection and into a B.C. Transit bus on Douglas Street — hit with such force the truck cab splintered apart on impact.
The video also showed the car that ran the red light, upon hitting the truck, bursting into flames and resting on the other side of the bus.
Police described the pickup driver’s injuries as “serious and possibly life-altering,” while B.C. Transit said no significant injuries were reported by passengers on the bus.
Insurance Corporation of B.C. statistics show 81 crashes at that intersection from 2018 to 2022.
Nunn contacted his friend again Wednesday night after watching the video.
“I said, ‘Dude, I saw the video!, what the heck?,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’m hard to kill, I’m getting better and I’ll only be in a neck brace for another four days,’” said Nunn.
Nunn doesn’t know if his friend will truly mend that quickly, or what the long-term medical implications and recovery period might be, but apparently Bruun is motivating himself by planning to be back at work within weeks.
Bruun asked Nunn if he could also cover his shifts next week until he could be “back on the mat” or at least teaching from the sidelines.
https://www.timescol...to-work-8498947
A Victoria police vehicle that went through the same intersection just seconds before the crash was quickly on the scene. Crews from the Victoria Fire Department and B.C. Ambulance paramedics also responded.
^ I must cry foul.
The crash happens at 2 seconds, and THAT police officer takes THAT route (one of the two marked) to get to the scene and gets there in 47 seconds? If I'm that cop, I'm either doing a u-turn on Douglas (most likely), or I'm going to at least come at the accident on Bay Street, not go a full block south to approach it from Douglas.
If he took the Kings/Blanshard/Queens/Douglas route, that's about 700m. If he goes the entire distance averaging 40kmh (there are 4 turns) it woud take him at least 63 seconds. And he rolls up pretty slowly really.
Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 March 2024 - 05:44 AM.
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