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Lasting Impressions Erube Maga�a can still smell the burnt rubber. His tennis shoes are marred by scrapes from the barbed wire fence. He remembers the mud gathered by his belt buckle following a hasty dive into the murky water. He can't forget the blood soaked into his clothing and is still haunted by the sight of a severed right arm. * * * Tyrone Williams remembers leaving Weed, Calif., in the wee hours of the morning on July 5. Friend Chavonna Gough needed to be back in Sacramento in time for work that fateful Thursday. With Gough behind the wheel of her '92 Chevy half-ton pickup, Williams dozed off at the far right of the cab as the truck headed south on Interstate 5. Nestled between the adults was Gough's 2-year-old son. The next thing Williams remembers is waking up in the hospital, tubes inserted throughout his body and doctors and nurses scurrying about. Out of sorts, he recalls trying to get up from the emergency room table. "That's when they told me about the accident," says the 29-year-old, "and about my arm." * * * Three weeks later, Maga�a and Williams still have not officially met. Neither, however, believes the other will ever be far from his thoughts. One because the shock to his system was just too great. The other because he feels blessed to have been given a second chance at life. Both believe fate led to their paths crossing on a stretch of I-5 near Zamora, Calif., in Yolo County. * * * Maga�a, 22, had been vacationing with girlfriend Lori Lewis at her home in Discovery Bay, Calif. The Southern Oregon University linebacker had planned to drive with Lewis to his home near Redding, Calif., on July 1, pick up younger brother Emmanuel and return to Medford. A few extra rounds of golf by Maga�a and shopping trips by Lewis extended that self-imposed deadline to July 5. Five o'clock in the morning came too soon for Lewis, however, and she opted to remain in Discovery Bay. Thrown a bit off his schedule while negotiating to get Lewis to change her mind, Maga�a finally took to the road at 6:30 - 30 minutes later than planned. It was at this point that Maga�a had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. "I just had an eerie feeling about the trip," he says. "I was leaving by myself and had just gotten a new cell phone but it wasn't working. Something was up in the air, I just didn't know what it was going to be." Although he usually stops for breakfast, Maga�a chose not to that day. When he stopped for gas, he paid with his ATM card at the pump instead of his normal routine of heading inside to peruse the mini-mart aisles for a snack or two. At Stockton, Calif., Maga�a took the I-5 exit heading north. About 90 minutes into his trip, hovering dust and the fresh smell of burnt rubber persuaded him to pull over at the site of an apparent accident. * * * Williams is left with only the accident report to detail his journey. Single-car collision. Witnesses put driver Chavonna Gough heading south at an estimated 90 miles per hour. Gough, 28, failed to negotiate her truck as the road curved slightly to the right. Over-correcting forced the truck into a broadside skid through the grassy center divider. With the passenger side leading the way, the truck rolled over and over and over until finally coming to rest on the northbound I-5 roadway. With her seat belt fastened, Gough remained in the cab. Secured by a lap belt but not in a child-restraint seat required by California law, her 2-year-old son also remained in the ever-jostling truck. Not wearing a seat belt, Williams was ejected through the windshield, over a 4-foot barbed-wire fence and into a pond roughly 25 feet from I-5. Mother and son escaped with minor bumps and scrapes. Most of Williams' right arm was severed by the windshield and remained in the truck. Dazed, Williams slowly sank into the murky pond. * * * The next moments of Maga�a's life flew by as he ran in the direction of Gough, who was screaming for someone to find Williams. Another bystander, either unable or unwilling to perform a rescue, pointed to bubbles about 25 yards into the pond. "At that point, it was like something else took over," says Maga�a. "I didn't think about what could happen to me or whether his head was chopped off or anything. I just knew some guy was drowning and I just went in after him." After climbing over the barbed-wire fence, Maga�a dove into the water - only to find its entry level much more shallow than he anticipated. Undaunted, he swam toward the bubbles, where the pond depth reached an estimated 6 feet. Once he found the submerged Williams, Maga�a dragged him back to dry land. With Williams coughing up water, Maga�a went to lay him on the ground. That's when he noticed his shirt was covered in blood, and Williams' right arm was partially torn off. "That totally freaked me out," says Maga�a. "I was stunned by that, and I couldn't help him any more. I had a weak stomach and I was afraid I was going to pass out or something. It was by far the most intense thing I've ever been through." Another helper on the scene asked for Maga�a's shirt to help apply pressure to the severed arm. The rest is a blur. "After I took him out, I remember other people there saying 'Good job, good job' and that he was going to remember that the rest of his life," says Maga�a. "I think I remember saying 'Thank you' or something, but I don't remember saying much because I was in shock. Everything happened so fast." And in a fateful manner. "There were a million things that could have gone wrong, but none of them did, thankfully," says Maga�a. "I felt like it was meant to be. I was supposed to pull over and help this guy." * * * Williams only has secondhand knowledge of the accident scene. Some stories have contradicted others, including Gough's recount of what happened. He has not heard from her since the accident, but wonders if she may have fallen asleep at the wheel. Attempts to contact her for this story proved unsuccessful. "I have a slight memory of hearing the (Life Flight) helicopter and someone telling me to hold on and that I was going to be all right," says Williams. "I went back out from there." Williams, who is still at the UC-Davis Medical Center, says nearly two liters of water had to be drained from his lungs. Doctors initially told family members he probably wouldn't live. At best, they said, he'd be in a vegetated state. Doctors were unable to reattach his arm. Williams, a right-handed barber, will likely train for a new career. He insists getting ejected from the truck was better than having remained belted in on the passenger side. "My side of the truck was crushed like a can," he says. "If I had been in there, I would have been dead for sure. I was thrown from the truck because God had plans for me to live. That's how I'm still alive." That and because of the heroic efforts of people like Maga�a, of whom Williams, the single father of Brandon (7), Tyrell (6) and Desiree (5), knows nothing about. "I would really love to meet this hero and thank him for saving my life," says Williams, whose spirits were remarkably high when reached in the hospital. "I have three children, and I feel blessed that I still have a chance to see them grow up. I want to thank him and let him know God is going to bless him." * * * For about five days following the accident, Maga�a had trouble sleeping. He had dreams of the severed arm being reattached but going numb, necessitating its removal a second time. Maga�a still finds himself staring at his own arm when he wakes up in the morning. "I still get a weird feeling about it," he says. "It's a cool story to tell, but if I get too into it, I'll start freaking out a little bit." Beyond his girlfriend and family members, Maga�a has kept the story quiet. It wasn't until Lewis suggested it might be good for him to get it off his chest that Maga�a began to open up. That has helped, but Maga�a isn't sure how he'll handle a meeting with Williams. "It's going to be pretty weird talking to him," says Maga�a, who still feels guilt for not doing more to help Williams. "I'm not sure I'll know what to say." Once they do meet, however, Williams plans to do most of the talking, anyway. He hopes to ease Maga�a's trepidation over the lost limb. "At least I have my life," says Williams. "I can spend the rest of my life taking care of my kids, and I'll be happy with that." Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.