I was crushed into a little ball Play Video

By ED WALSH ewalsh@ktbs.com

Posted: Nov 3, 2009 4:00 PM
Updated: Nov 4, 2009 9:31 AM

  Michael Williams, the man sitting in a car when it was crushed by a falling church steeple during last week's tornado in Shreveport, said today he believes it was a miracle he wasn't killed.

  What started out as a usual trip home from work last Thursday afternoon ended in a trip to the hospital.

 Williams, 57, was driving in front of First United Methodist Church in downtown Shreveport at the moment a tornado toppled the steeple, sending it onto Williams' Lexus.

  "I don't remember it," Williams said today from his room at LSU Hospital. "I came to, and the only memory I have is being crushed into a little ball inside my car."

  Firefighters use the jaws of life to free him from the crushed car -- a 50-minute episode Williams said will be burned into his memory.

  "It's the one image that I do remember," he said. "And I will hold onto it for the rest of my life, because they saved my life."

  Williams, who is married to Shreveport advertising executive Judy Williams, suffered fractured vertebrae, a fractured sternum, a fractured wrist, three broken bones in his foot, several broken fingers, one partially amputated finger on his right hand and a gash to his head.

  Williams said the hand injury won't impact his career as a graphic artist.

  "I'm here for a reason.  I just don't know what it is yet. But I'll let you know when I find out," he chuckled to reporters.

  Williams said he's seen a newspaper picture of the crumpled car and knows he was lucky. He said he would have gone to church on Sunday if he hadn't been in the hospital.

  Doctors said Williams is expected to be released from the hospital by the end of the week.

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