Father of 4 still critical after Berkeley freeway crash
"All we ask is for prayers. If you love Sam, just pray," his wife told The Scanner. "Prayer changes everything."
A father of four from San Leandro remains in critical condition this week after a solo crash on the freeway in Berkeley earlier this month.
Sam Bryant, 45, was alone in his Toyota SUV when the collision happened July 20 on eastbound I-80 at about 2:30 a.m. on the stretch of freeway between University Avenue and Gilman Street.
Bryant's wife Jovita told The Scanner on Tuesday that Sam had just been sick a day before the crash but had gone to work anyway.
He was driving home from work when the collision happened.
"He wasn't drinking," she said. "He fell asleep behind the wheel."
As of Tuesday, Sam was still in critical condition on a ventilator at Highland Hospital with numerous broken bones including a fractured skull, Jovita said.
He is also fighting pneumonia and can't have surgery until his lungs heal, his wife said.
"All we ask is for prayers. If you love Sam, just pray," Jovita Bryant told The Scanner. "Prayer changes everything."
Sam is a member of the Word Assembly Family of Churches and has been active in his motorcycle club, the Oakland Zodiacs. He is well known in the community, his wife said.
Emilie Raguso
A Scanner reader who heard the July 20 crash and called 911 to report it said she and a friend crawled through a large hole in the fence that separates the frontage road from the freeway to try to offer help that night.
"The SUV was upright but sideways, blocking the two middle lanes of the freeway," she said. "There was debris, a lot of debris, scattered everywhere, not just weeds from the shoulder and pieces from the SUV."
Her friend, a "very large and strong man, was desperately trying to gain access to the vehicle and was yelling to the man, who was unresponsive and bleeding, in the driver's seat."
As they stood there, several vehicles approached, one of which hit something that sent it "slamming into the cement barrier" and across all the lanes to the shoulder.
"There were cars skidding all over the place," the reader said.
Several cars ended up on the side of the freeway, including one that had nearly crashed, which had a woman and two children inside.
A driver sustained major injuries in a freeway crash July 20, 2024. BeFree Photography
Meanwhile, the reader said she tried to advise the 911 dispatcher about the best access to the crash site, which was near Cedar Street.
"By that time," she said, "a group of people had gathered on the freeway, they were standing in a line, all waving their lit-up cell phones over their heads to try and stop oncoming traffic."
The CHP, Berkeley Fire and Albany Fire all responded to the scene.
"The three departments worked together and, after cutting the roof and peeling it back, they were finally able to rescue the man," the reader said. "This could have been a whole lot worse, with a lot more victims being injured than there were. The craziest, most chaotic thing I've ever seen! My prayers go to the man in the SUV."
According to preliminary information that was provided by authorities the day of the crash, the SUV initially left the freeway, crashing through the guardrail onto Eastshore Highway.
The vehicle rolled over multiple times, taking out several large electrical boxes that power Caltrans signage.
The electrical boxes were "ripped out of the ground," authorities said, leaving debris littering Eastshore Highway.
The SUV then somehow came to rest back on I-80 on its wheels, authorities said.
On Tuesday, the Oakland CHP confirmed that the driver was not under the influence but said no other updates were available as of this week.
