Retired UFC fighter Brendan Schaub is telling hisharrowing first-person accountof the wrong-way crash that killed a young mother in Los Angeles last week.
Schaub, 38, and his wife were driving on the 101 in Los Angeles Thursday on their way to date night when they saw a gruesome car crash on the side of the freeway, he shared on his podcast,The Fighter and the Kid, on Wednesday.
The crash involved an SUV and an 18-wheeler, which was blocking two lanes of traffic.
He would have kept on driving, Schaub told co-host Bryan Callen, had he not seen a young boy on the top of the SUV waving his arms for help.
“There’s a car, just mangled,” the athlete recalled. “There’s like a 6- or 7-year-old on the top of the car like this” — here, Schaub waved his arms over his head to demonstrate — “yelling for help.”
“And then he’s pointing down, I look down, and there’s two other kids in the car,” Schaub said.
Brendan Schaub.Slaven Vlasic/Getty
“I’m like, what in the f— is going on, man?” Schaub said. “I’m just thinking about the kids.”
Through tears, Schaub recounted the next several moments.
“There’s a bigger kid and he keeps going, ‘I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die,’ and I go, ‘you’re not going to die, buddy, you’re not going to die,’ " Schaub said.
He and another man on the scene, who he said may have been the truck driver, couldn’t get the car’s door open because it was so damaged from the crash, so they removed shattered glass from a broken window and pulled the kids through.
Aimee Garcia.Facebook
Schaub said his goal at that point was to make sure that the kids didn’t see their mother in that state — “he was so young, it would have completely f—ed him up,” he said of the smallest child.
The older child ,who had been on top of the car, ended up being okay according to Schaub.
Getting choked up, Schaub recalled telling the kid, “‘You’re so brave, dude. You’re such a little badass … I know you don’t know me, but I’m so proud you. … You’re the reason I stopped and I got your brothers.’ "
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
On Monday, Torres was charged with one count of murder and four counts each of attempted murder and child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said. He was also charged with one count each of assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest.
Nearly a week after the ordeal, Schaub — a father himself — is still shaken, and said onThe Fighter and the Kidthat he can’t get the kids out of his head.
“I’ll help pay for the funeral,” Schaub said, “but I want to help those kids out.” The athlete said he’s reached out to Garcia’s aunt, who set up aGoFundMe campaignto help with funeral expenses, about ways he can help financially and make sure they stay together.
The GoFundMe has now raised more than $50,000 of its $30,000 initial goal.
source: people.com
