Crash horrors live on
Robert PeRez | Sentinel Staff Writer

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June 5, 2006

Suzan Brownell had a split second to act when she saw
the full-size pickup tumbling toward her on Interstate 4.
She hit the gas, and the truck missed her SUV by inches.

But the driver's body, which had been thrown from the
vehicle, exploded through her windshield in a riot of
blood, debris and glass.

The horrific crash last month didn't injure Brownell
physically, but the trauma had an immediate and
dramatic impact on her life.

Within days, the 40-year-old Deltona resident
became overwhelmed by anxiety, unable to focus at work,
unable to sleep at night, obsessed with what other drivers
were doing on her daily commute along the interstate.

"I got behind a big truck, and another big truck came up
next to me," she recalled. "I just started freaking out. I
realized I was gripping the wheel so hard, and I wasn't
breathing."

Over and over, she has relived the accident in her mind.
And she has cried -- so hard at times it made her legs
weak.

"The only other time I cried was on my wedding day,"
she said.

Brownell is one of thousands of Central Florida motorists
who have suffered lingering and sometimes debilitating
mental scars after getting caught up in all-too-common
traffic accidents along the region's congested roads.

In the past five years, the Florida Highway Patrol has
tracked nearly 3,400 accident victims in Central Florida
who requested crisis counseling or professional referrals.
Potentially hundreds of them developed post-traumatic
stress disorder -- something normally associated with
soldiers returning from war rather than someone returning
from work.

A study by the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder found about 9 percent of accident victims struggle
with the condition.

"It can be incredibly debilitating," said Walter Johnson,
the FHP's victims' advocate. "People turn to alcohol and
drugs. It can affect relationships."

Although many seek counseling, others battle through on
their own, only to have the trauma rekindled by a future
event.

No chance to grieve

Getting help is a must, said Vickie Lyon, whose daughter
was killed by a drunken driver in 2001.

"Anyone who thinks they can do it on their own is full
of baloney," she said.

Dennielle "Nikki" Schermock was 25 when she was killed
in a head-on collision on Poinciana Boulevard south of
Kissimmee. Her 4-year-old daughter, Brieanna, and
16-month-old son, Brandon, were in the car with her.
Brieanna was seriously injured.

She said it took her years to realize she never got the
chance to grieve for her daughter. She was too busy caring
for the children and fighting a long custody battle. Lyon and
her husband, Christopher, now care for the children and will
legally adopt them this month.

Lyon went through phases of denial and anger. She
developed techniques to get through the rough times, but
she remains haunted by the image of her daughter's broken
body in the morgue.

May is particularly difficult for Lyon because it includes
Mother's Day and Nikki's birthday. Even the most routine
things, such as spotting a blouse at a store that Nikki would
have liked, can trigger a wave of emotions.

Can't go it alone

She is grateful for the counseling and direction provided by
Johnson at the FHP.

"Don't do it by yourself," she said. "You need your best friend
Susie. Or to be able to roll over in bed and have your
husband say, 'I know what you're thinking,' or to be able to
call your mom or call your pastor."

Like Lyon, Brownell's dreams are invaded by images from
her accident, one that was shocking even to law-enforcement
veterans.

About 4:30 p.m. May 18, Brownell was driving eastbound on
I-4 as she had done hundreds of times over 11 years from her
job at an Orlando fence company. As she approached
Seminole Towne Center mall, Wilfred Garcia's blue Ford 250
crew-cab pickup sped westbound.

In the thick of early rush-hour traffic, Garcia's 6,600-pound
truck suddenly went out of control, skidding across three lanes
toward the center guardrail, flipping over it and then tumbling
toward eastbound traffic.

Garcia, 44, and his passenger, Esau Bernard, 50, were not
wearing seat belts, according to the FHP. Both were thrown
from the rolling vehicle.

Brownell only remembers making a split-second decision to
speed up to avoid the mass of tumbling steel, then there was a
gut-wrenching impact.

Somehow, she was able to stop her Toyota 4Runner and pull
to the median. Her two Labradors, which had spent the day at
work with her, were unharmed. But they were covered in blood.

The scene inside the vehicle was "like something out of a Wes
Craven movie," Brownell recalled. But this was real.

There is little that can prepare someone for that type of shock,
Johnson said. "I think when people come face to face in an
event, when you're there, it's a lot different from violence on
television," he said.

The symptoms of the trauma that would grip Brownell were
evident the evening of the accident, when she took four showers
and still felt "icky." That night, David Brownell found his wife
sitting upright in bed in a sweat. She later curled up on the
couch, shivering uncontrollably.

Days later, her struggles continued. She found it increasingly
difficult to get through a routine workday, her mind drifting back
to the accident.

"I find myself typing along and I start thinking about stuff," she
said. "About the guy. The whole like, you know, he was in my
car. A person is not supposed to do that. Do people really blow
up like that? I find my mind wandering a lot."

She is angry at Garcia. If he had only worn his seat belt, she
might not have had to go through this, she said.

"It was such a simple thing, such a simple thing," she said. "I
don't get why a person, in my opinion, would just want to just
throw their life away."

Brownell still wakes up screaming, her husband said. Despite
being a strong and independent woman, she can't shake the
horror. She knows she needs help.

"Grief is part of a natural being-born-dying process," she said.
"Having a body flung through your windshield at 180 miles an
hour and only half of him being in your vehicle is something else."

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