‘They saved my family’: father recounts miracles after his family was hit by a car
Dec 6, 2023, 9:47 PM | Updated: Dec 7, 2023, 5:57 am
(KSL TV)
LAYTON — The husband and father of a family hit by a car Tuesday in Layton reflected on the crash the day after, crediting miracles that saved his wife and young children.
Andrew Ponson said the first miracle was that his family survived. He and his wife, Bridgette, both work at Layton Christian Academy.
Ponson had just left school when he watched police and ambulances speed past him. He thought nothing of it. Then he said his phone started ringing.
“It’s a name that would not be calling me,” Ponson said. “I realized all those cops and the ambulances are for me; something happened to my family.”
As he drove back to the school, he described the moments that followed.
“This is like the closest thing to hell on earth as you can describe,” Ponson said.
His small family was not OK. His wife was leaning against the car. Ponson said she looked “beat up.”
His 2-year-old son was on the ground with blood on his face. Someone on the scene was holding his three-year-old daughter.
“You just feel helpless and hopeless, it’s just a worst feeling,” Ponson said.
But then, in his words, that second miracle was the people here at the scene.
“They came and introduced life and they introduced love and hope and peace into this scenario with their generosity, their kindness and compassion,” Ponson said.
A senior airman and a group of roughly 20 teens had worked together, quickly to pull the car off of his wife and son, who were both pinned under the car.
Exclusive video of high school boys and girls at Layton Christian Academy coming to the rescue of a mom and child trapped underneath a car. See the story only on @KSL5TV at 10. pic.twitter.com/iFn0GU7ufb
— Dan Rascon (@TVDanRascon) December 6, 2023
Ponson knows those teens.
“They saved my family and I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my composure the next time I see them,” Ponson said.
It’s been an emotional day for him.
“I have wept numerous times today in the quiet moments,” Ponson said.
His small family is battered and bruised, but alive.
“Today I’m celebrating life. I’m celebrating the connection to the friendships that I’ve reconnected with and in this during all the grief there is hope, there is life.”