“Mom tried,” Dillon said, his voice cracking. “She jerked the wheel as hard as she could. I heard her gasp, and then—” He slammed his hands together during the video, mimicking the impact.
The passenger side — his side — struck the corner of the trailer. The car spun violently. Dillon remembered waking up mid-spin, disoriented, weightless, hearing metal scraping against asphalt.
“When the car finally stopped, we were facing the opposite direction. I didn’t understand what had happened. I just knew something was very wrong.”
They had been traveling at 50 mph. A speed that, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t be deadly — but with a full stop obstruction in a pitch-black road, it was catastrophic.