Baltimore bakery truck driver Warren Boardley Jr. he is believed to have been dead before the United Airlines Newark crash
A truck driver who narrowly escaped when a United Airlines flight crashed into his car on landing at Newark Airport believes he was about to be beheaded before the horrific crash.
Warren Boardley Jr., who who works for H&S Bakery in Baltimore, saw the light seconds before United 169 cut off his truck while driving on the New Jersey Turnpike Sunday afternoon, his father said.
“He described fear, absolute fear that he wouldn’t walk away, that he was going to be decapitated. That’s what he was thinking,” Boardley’s father, Warren Boardley Sr., told reporters during a press conference Tuesday, according to WBAL.
The 39-year-old pilot was captured on dashcam video looking at his passenger side as the Boeing 767-400 approached the runway and hit his tractor trailer.
“He said he saw a light that made him duck and put his hands up, and in doing so, that’s what I believe he hit his head with,” Boardley Sr. said.
“If he had been going one mile an hour faster, or one mile an hour slower, it would have killed him more, more likely.
“That alone made me very angry, you know, losing my son and being able to see him, no one wants to see him, no parent wants to see him.”
Officials said Boardley Jr., who has been flown back to Baltimore, suffered minor injuries in the crash, but his father added that there may have been some brain problems.
“He’s injured in the body, he’s in pain all over, of course, because of the impact of the plane that hit that truck,” Boardley Sr. said.
“His attitude and emotions are coming. We have to look at him because that was a painful thing.”
Family lawyer J. Wyndal Gordon explained the injury to Boardley Jr. “like severe head trauma” and added that he may have suffered a type of “closed head trauma,” but further testing is needed.
“Warren Jr. is very depressed, he is in a lot of pain and he is doing everything he can to rest at home,” Gordon said.
The elder Boardley celebrated the fact that the son survived the accident and that his family had not planned a funeral.
“Today could have been the day we mourned his loss, but instead our prayers and everything were heard,” he said. “I’ve never known anyone who left something like that. You feel the same way.”
Gordon is waiting to hear back from United and airport officials to begin a process to learn what caused the plane to hit Boardley’s truck.
“We expect there to be some recklessness there because planes don’t just fall out of the sky and they don’t just hit 18-wheelers traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike,” said Gordon.
“We expect some negligence there, but we can’t just sue without having all the facts,” added the lawyer. “So in terms of charges, we’re nowhere there.”
The United flight, which was nearing its final destination after a 9-hour flight from Venice, Italy, was attempting a “visual landing” on Runway 29, a difficult maneuver due to the short runway, unusual lights and gusts.
The plane hit a truck and a utility pole, Boardley Jr. he hit a concrete wall.
The United flight, carrying 221 passengers and 10 crew members, landed safely on the notorious runway.
