Passenger Shares Frightening Moment in Johnston Street Crash

Nearly two weeks after a car barreled through Johnston Street traffic and into a local tattoo shop, a passenger inside the vehicle is speaking publicly for the first time. In an interview with KLFY News 10, Don Mitchell described the terrifying moment the car he was riding in swerved across four lanes, hit two pedestrians, and slammed into Be True Tattoo.

"He Just Leaned Forward and Collapsed"

Mitchell says he and the driver were on their way to a spoken word poetry workshop in Lafayette on that hot day when things suddenly took a dangerous turn.

“As we pulled up to the stop sign at Johnston and Whittington, he said the heat was too much,” Mitchell told KLFY. “When I looked over, he had both hands on the wheel—then he just leaned forward, like he passed out behind the wheel.”

Seconds later, the vehicle failed to stop, struck a pedestrian on a scooter, crossed Johnston Street, and crashed into the tattoo shop, hitting a worker inside.

After the Crash: “I Thought That Was Going to Be It”

Mitchell said everything happened in a blur.

“My first instinct was to check if anything was broken,” he said. “It was hard to watch. I just thank God that nobody died, I just thank God we’re all still here.”