Doug Proffitt previews his talk with Sydney Thomas, the truck driver saved on the Clark Memorial Bridge

WHAS 11's Doug Proffitt previews his interview with Sydney Thomas, the truck driver who was rescued by Louisville Fire on the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge earlier this year...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
To my left is Doug Prophet fromWhas eleven Terry. I love this,
you know. I kit to walkover here to see you in person.
From sixth and Chestnut. Yeah,yeah, only on block and a half
apart. So the place out atthe by School Board headquarters Newburgh, you
called the what the purple Tower ofpowerless Tower of power and the WHAS building
where you were for many years,it was it to something like the gray

(00:22):
Eminence, humongous gray eminence. Sowhat is four Street live? Fourth fourth
Street? We're always watching for anythingmoving. It is fun to come over
here. That's good to talk toyou. We're neighbors as always. I
was in your building today. Yes, I got photos of your presence.
We were shooting Crusade for Children piecesthanks to lg and E. By the

(00:45):
way, the president, John Crockettcame out and helped us and Mary Kate
Gray, who kind of organizes thethe employees of lg and E and KU
and I can't tell you the number, but it's staggering how much money was
raised for the Crusade for Children.Oh, first weekend in June coming up.
I've just made my assembol with myfingers to show you how many thousands

(01:06):
of dollars. I don't think I'msupposed to say that. No, that's
a big reveal. That's pretty awesome. Well, it's it's they shock us
every time, right, I mean, all right, I want to say
it. You walk over there tothe LGE billiontly hand, you have four
hundred thousand dollars, it's like,oh, that's pretty good. More and
it's still great to be able tosay that every single penny goes back to
the community because we don't pay atthe expenses of the Crusade in our building

(01:30):
at all. That's right, fromyour money. It goes out of the
of the interest from the foundation.And it's so it's more than one hundred
percent collected because there's interest on themoney as it's banked. Republic Bank helps
us with that, and that's whatpays for the few salaries the Crusade has.
So more than one hundred percent donatedgoes to special needs children the programs

(01:52):
to help them exactly. It's anastounding thing. Yeah, it's very few
charities can can do that. Usuallyis an expense. No, hey,
listen, I appreciate you visiting.We're going to talk about a couple of
topics. But first off the jump. I saw you have an interview coming
on tonight with the truck driver,the woman who was dangling over there,
praying for life, no doubt inthat accident on the Clark Memorial Bridge.

(02:16):
Yes, it's an exclusive interview comingup at six and eleven tonight. Her
name is Sidney Thomas Terry. She'stwenty six years old. Oh my goodness.
I mean this young woman who isa rule follower. She tells me,
she's just this is her first interviewsince March first, is when it
happened. She hasn't really been ableto talk about it until now. Why

(02:39):
not because of that pen because ofher recovery that's coming. It has nothing
to do with that. It's justshe got to the point, I'll read
you one quote. I brought mynotes over here. I couldn't believe this
was happening. I was like,I can't believe this, that I'm really
hanging over the river. I wasin shock. This is crazy. Well,

(03:00):
I mean, everybody we saw thevideo. Because of the court case
for the driver that created the mayhemand O and he that came out just
yesterday, she was asked by attorneysto watch that very video that everybody saw
yesterday, just right after the crash, and it nearly set back her recovery.
I would they saw it would beso traumatizing to reliat. She's got

(03:20):
to be suffering a little bit ofptsdal she is. She's a military veteran.
She was in the US Army andis a carm operator and then the
National Guard. So her training helpedher stay cool. But that watching that
dash cam video really upset her.She said that to me before I had
seen this video that came out aswe recorded this interview on Monday. This

(03:43):
came out yesterday, And because Iwant her to see her interview at six
o'clock tonight, out of respect forher, we're not showing the dashcam video
tonight. It was on yesterday.It's like reliving it all over again.
I called her and talked to heryesterday and she was still very upset by
that video. Although she knows thatif part of the court case, she's
got to view it. There can'tbe there's no evading it. But to

(04:08):
see this truck and I always stillhave to say allegations, but I mean,
we can see the video with oureyes that someone swerves around gets in
her path, and then the lookon her face and then trying to maintain
control. But even after that,the freakishness of having the tractor of the
tractor trailer dangling, and then shehad to be wondering when it would separate

(04:30):
and she would plunge to her death. She did because her father is an
eighteen year veteran of driving semis ohwow, and he is part of our
interview that we're running with him.That'll be at eleven. With those two
together, he explains the kingpin thatconnects the two that were hanging, the
two trailers there, and that itwas hanging on He said normally, he

(04:55):
said, Doug, those they tellyou never fail, But he said,
invariably, they all w fail.He said, why that hung? They
both believe they witnessed a miracle fromGod. There's no question about it.
We saw a miracle and we callour story the miracle. At the second
she a careful person, very muchso, and you know, she believes
that it was a message about howshe's going to live her life from here

(05:17):
on out. She's a young mother, and it gave her perspective, a
lot of the perspective that I thinkall of us should have as far as
how we treat each other, howwe should respect each other, and what's
important in our lives. Today,we all know in real time how long
she was dangling with forty minutes shemust have felt like that was yours felt

(05:42):
like yours? And remember Bryce Cardon, the Litutleville firefighter who saved her,
has publicly many many times said becauseof the way Sidney kept it together,
held it together, her behavior whenhe reached her, which was solid,
buttoned up because of her training,her military training. He said, that
helped me get her out of thatwindow. He pulled her through the window

(06:05):
that much faster. Yep, didshe have an electric window that she was
able? Was the window already downand he did he have to burst the
window hammer through it or what he? The window? The window was was
down, but she was still inher seat belt. She this is the
way she sat for forty minutes,her hands gripped on the wheel as if

(06:27):
she was still driving, and herfoot on the brake. She didn't let
it up, and so he hadto cut the seat belt off of her
and say come on into the harness. She said, I knew I wouldn't
fallen out of the harness. Shewas confident about that, but she goes.
Hanging over the Ohio River going upback to the bridge was the most
frightening part of the rescue for Bryce. I know we practiced things. I

(06:50):
mean, you and I have bothbeen over to the fire facility before,
where they carry hoses upsteps, theypractice all these things. Had he done
a dangle over water at an llike that before? Yes, the fire
department to let us know, andwe didn't know it at the time,
that they practice on the sides ofskyscrapers, on the sides of cliffs and
quarries around here. They do thisall the time, and they do it

(07:12):
with their ropes. And you knowthey weren't trying to be flip about it.
Oh, we were so prepared.We're ready for this anytime, but
they really were. And at highheights. Sydney, in her military training,
had done firefighter training. She'd gonethrough the same thing, so she
knew his language. But basically theyprayed together. That's what was going on

(07:34):
in the cab. Another thing theyteach us and when we go down range
is we have rollover training too,where they simulate the vehicles that were in
and either partially rollover or completely rollover. We're trapped in the seat belts were
trained how to get out of thatand how not to panic. So they
always tell us the more stressful thesituation gets, the calmer you've got to
be. You know, there arejust there are some strange things that happened

(07:57):
that that day. Why was sheon the bridge? Was she making delivery?
She was running behind time. TheSecond Street Bridge is a standard and
approved route by Cisco, and soshe took it to try to cut some
time, save some time. Youknow. We just did an investigation a
week ago that looked at the numberof crashes on the Second Street Bridge for
one year period and found that semisaren't the problem of the crashes on there.

(08:22):
There were only five involved in aone year period. Is it crazed
drivers that are going too fast overthe thirty five mile pirem speed, looking
at phones, veering over the line, because I've been over that bridge a
zillion times in my life. That'sthe thing you have to worry about the
oncoming traffic because unlike an interstate,there's no center barricade. And you've seen
the dashcam video that was recording hershe's looking straight ahead, she's not on

(08:45):
her phone, she's not distracted.She's going at a slow speed because there
was that stalled electric car that wason the side that the people were trying
to get around, and she saidthat didn't bother She had been in the
other lane away for she was onthe other direction. This guy in the
pickup truck, according to police,was weaving in and out of traffic before
he swerved around the car. Andyou see the pickup truck coming right at

(09:07):
her slam head on, and thenher training was keep the truck straight.
All she said, I didn't wantdidn't want to injure or hurt anybody else.
But she said the truck knocked outher power, the suspension was gone,
she had no more control. Oh, that's what sended over the edge.
Has she had the moment of puttingher hands back on a steering wheel?

(09:31):
Yes, good, Yes, Andthat probably helps with the healing.
And you'll be surprised at what shetold me she's going to do next.
I have to okay, I haveto hold some things for the interview,
but I will say for the interview. I asked her, Sydney, I'd
like to go back down to thebridge. If you're okay with that.

(09:52):
If you're not, you come toWhas TV. We've got a nice studio.
I want to know where you've standon this, because I did an
interview with her on the phone andher father before we did this, to
let her know. You know howI handle interviews. It's a conversation like
you do, Terry. I toldher this is not an interrogation, it's
a conversation. It's a big difference. And can you go back there?

(10:13):
She said, yes, I cango back there. She goes, I've
seen it since then, I cango back and look at it. She
says, I'm just not going todrive across. When I saw the promo,
I saw where she was seated andthen you, and then I saw
the bridge in the background. Ithought, man, that took some guts
just for her to do that.Is that in the Young Center? Is
it in the back of that orno? It was it was a waterfront

(10:35):
development corporation which hooks right out overthere. Uh, and yeah. I
wanted to know if she'd be okaywith that. And then we were able
to walk around at the foot ofthe bridge and take a look at it
that way. But she's she's ableto laugh about a few things. And
one of the stories that we haveat eleven was what happened shortly after the

(10:56):
crash. She wasn't driving. Shehad to call a new where she was
in Louisville to go to southern Indianaand they're driving along. Next thing she
knows the guy's heading to the secondarybridge. Oh what she says about that
in that conversation, it's worth watchingstanding up for tonight. I love this.
Sorry, So it's at six o'clocktonight on six eleven, six and
eleven. At six o'clock, shetakes us through the questions we all had

(11:18):
the crash, the harrowing moments hangingthere, the rescue, what that was
like, what what's the first thingshe did when her feet hit the bridge?
And then at eleven she has avery pointed message for that driver,
which if you all are assuming inyour mind what you think that is,
it's not. It'll blow your mindaway at what she says to this driver.

(11:43):
So, anyway, does she andBryce stay in contact? They have.
She loves the family and his wife. They've been very nice to her
and she's real complimentary of them.And dude, she says. She said,
I couldn't have done what he did. I don't know how he did
it. She goes and she said, I sat there for forty minutes thinking
there's no way they can pull thisrescue off. Nobody will save me.
Is Bryce okay? Not from this? I mean from the Kentucky Wildcats blowing

(12:07):
up? Well, I anster,Sydney. Are you okay? Are you
a UK fan? Because your rescuercertainly is. Can I can I say
something to you personally before you aregetting closer. You signed a five year
deal here and I got to dothe story on that, and I included
in my story. It's a biggerpicture that your listeners need to know because

(12:30):
you can't say this, but Ican. It's a huge message that they
signed a veteran in our business anymore. The longevity is important to this community
and it's a credit to iHeart thatthey did because, as you know,
our business is getting younger and younger, which is great. I work with
some amazing twenty year olds that areso smart. I learned from them.

(12:52):
I love them and I admire theirwork ethic. They teach me things.
But you know, I'm in contactwith a lot of those twenty years olds.
But love you, Karry. Yougot to have somebody that knows how
to say doomenil and knows that Shively'snot Shiveley. I mean, you've got
to do that. And so itwas a it's a big deal for the
community that they invested in longevity anda veteran. You're going to be right

(13:13):
up there with Milton Metz in theend in five years from now. Well,
that's kind of you. You're here. Well, I mean I like
what I do every day. Well, look at your interviews. I tell
Mary all the time. As longas I like this, I'm going to
keep doing They told me fifteen yearsago, just stay as long as you
want. People should know you're friendswith Mitch McConnell. You like him,
but you ask him tough questions.You don't have any problem doing that.

(13:37):
I listened to those podcasts. Weuse clips of them on the air.
I'm also friends with John Yarmouth,So I have friends all across the spet.
Yes you do. Yeah, we'veplayed golf multiple times. But it's
for the media. People need tounderstand that that you've got to have the
institutional memory in this community. Andso, well, that's kind of you
to say that. I wanted tosay that because I know you couldn't come
on the air and do it thatday. Well, that's very nice.

(14:00):
I appreciate you, and you're theleader at WHASTV. And those twenty year
olds you referenced, they love you. Oh well, whenever I call over
and I need something whatever, they'reall about, Well, Doug needs this
or that or whatever, and we'reon it. They look at me sometimes
and go, are you crazy?I go, well, yes, I've
been here thirty seven years, butthank you for letting me talk about her.

(14:22):
She's a remarkable young woman who hasa future that she'll explain tonight at
six. I think that we've allparticipated in a miracle globally. I mean,
that story went around the world,and I think everybody watching that firefighter
dangle pulling that driver out of thattruck and saw I thought, oh mind,
didn't you've run through your mind?So many people said could I have

(14:45):
been that way? Could I havekept it together? Could I have handled
it that way? I think weall said no. I looked at her
and I said, I just wantto touch you. Yeah, to be
dangling over that river for that longand like you said, it probably felt
like years to her. That's justbecause you're waiting to die. So her
father, Mark, drives a truckand he was exhausted. He actually slept

(15:09):
through it, but then was wakenedand said, your daughter's now at the
hospital. So he missed the rescue. He listened Southern Indiana to get to
you of the hospital, he hadto cross the Kennedy where he looked over
and saw his daughter's semi hanging offthe bridge, and he got it.
Oh my gosh, I can't thisis unbelievable. So is she working again
now? I mean, or isshe going to take some time? I

(15:31):
mean, we answer that question.Okay, we answer that question. It's
a great question. And I'm inthe media too, That's why we ask
each other. I think our viewersand your listeners, if they can watch,
will stand up and cheer when theyhear what she says. I love
it. Okay, six o'clock tonighton WHA eleven six and eleven two.
She's so riveting that we're not repeatingstuff at eleven it's going to be brand

(15:54):
new comments to as well. Onthe Night Team as we call it.
We love a night team we're onyour side. Whose side are you not
on? By the way, there'sgot to be somebody who side you're not
on if it says when I wasover at the building this morning, we're
on your side. So anybody thatdrives by goes, oh, they're on
my side. Well, you're right. It's a great debate. We'd have

(16:15):
to question that. There's a fewpeople who side we're not on, but
we can't paint that on the sideof the building. Okay, last thing
for you. You know how hardthese people have worked to put this golf
course together for this tournament this weekValhalla? When do we get a next
our next major? You're connected everybody, Doug, Well, they took Terry.

(16:37):
They're sending nuggets out that we loveLouisville. And the president of the
PGA yesterday and his news conference,he is correct in how we described how
well the ownership group at val Hallais. You know those guys David Novak,
Junior Bridgeman and the rest of them, you know they're they're in the
ear of those PGA folks. Butwhat when's the PGA has selected dates through

(16:59):
what twenty thirty four? Yeah,there's one hole in there, but yeah,
your five year deal will be over. But yeah, that's true.
It's just this has such an economicimpact, and our city turns out for
these big events. I don't wantto get lost. If it were me,
i'd say, mister PGA, howcan you not come back to Louisville.
There's one tournament that needs a newhome with Wells Fargo is not going

(17:21):
to be in North Carolina next yearbecause the PGA Championship will be there.
Do we have Wells Fargo banks here? I don't think so. We've got
through. I think they do mortgagesin that, but I don't think they're
around here. But I think it'sit's I don't think it's likely that it
would happen, but I think everybody'scertainly cheering for it. It means a
lot to you know, everybody inthis community is behind this and we just

(17:44):
want it to be successful. Well, I can't wait until Jim Nantz comes
on, and you know he hasgot the great description. He's such a
great storyteller. How he's gonna setthe open. You know, the opens
are beautifully crafted by CBS, andwhen they come on, it's his.
He writes a lot of them.How he's you know, he's going to
tie in Derby one fifty. Heloves this city. He loves mentioning it
when he's at other sites and he'llmention Valhalla and whatever. And I got

(18:07):
to interview him in Indianapolis once.He was walking out of the facility what
was it called the Hoosier Dome.The lamb up there for basketball, and
I said, hey, can youjump on the radio? Sure? And
he talked to me for Diamonds.Didn't know me from Adam the last time.
He's a solid interview. You know, he's got a wine. It's
a really good wine called the Callingthat he created because his calling as a
little boy was to call the mastersfor CBS. So he has a wine.

(18:32):
It's very good. I bought it, and there was a liquor store
near Valhalla that got it, thefirst to get it into Louisville. It's
called Evergreen. And when the lasttime Nance was here, they let him
know that they were the only onesthat had it, and he came in
there and did a signing and therewas like people out the door to meet
him. Well, he's given upsome of his work so that he could
just focus on this. He didn'tdo the final four this year, right,

(18:56):
gave up March madness, focus ongolf, So he's gonna have a
lot to talk about. Tomorrow isgoing to be a rainy day and hopefully
by what sunny and on Sunday eightydegrees. Yeah, it's going to be.
It'll you think the course will dryout, you know the course.
Yeah, it's going to be achallenge to get the second round completed tomorrow.
So will they be finishing the secondround on Saturday morning? That's the
question. And then then you turnaround. If you don't make the cut,

(19:19):
you leave, and then if youotherwise you start playing golf again all
day. There you go. Itcould be interesting, all right, Doug.
I appreciate the neighborly visit. Well, thank you for letting me talk
about Sidney Thomas. She's one ofthose few people that you come across you
just go wow. Okay. Sixand eleven tonight on WHS eleven News,
Doug Prophet, You're always welcome here. Well, thank you, thank you
to get a miracle on the secondStreet Bridge miracles. We're all into miracles.

(19:44):
Back in a minute. On newsRadio eight forty whas