David and Julie Magnan

About David and Julie

Julie and David were high school sweethearts living in Vermont with their adult children having branched out across the U.S.. David was a Vietnam veteran, “jack of all trades”, handyman, and businessman. He was, at the time of the crash, Superintendent of several rock quarries; both driving trucks as well as supervising many truck drivers who worked for him. David was a beloved father of 4 children and 2 grandchildren who provided the balance and security Julie and her children had needed to flourish.

“David was a jack of all trades and the sense of calm in our family.”

- Julie Magnan Patrissi, Widow to David and Truck Crash Survivor

Crash Description

On January 31st, 2002, Julie and David were headed to their daughter in Denver, Colorado to drop off her car. While passing through Nebraska, David noticed a truck behaving erratically; it ran over the median and headed for Julie and David’s car. David shoved Julie’s body down to protect her, and their car was wedged underneath the side of the truck. David likely died on impact and Julie was pulled out of the wreckage with use of "jaws of life", as the majority of their car was under the tractor trailer.

Life After the Crash

Immediately following the crash, Julie underwent emergency surgery in both Nevada and then Denver to address injuries to her ribs, spleen, and legs. After the emergency surgery, Julie began rebuilding her physical health. However, she also had a traumatic brain injury (TBI), requiring her to also focus on her neurological health. 

Due to the TBI, Julie had to relearn how to do basic tasks for herself. This caused feelings of frustration, anger, and helplessness Julie remembers having to work through for months. Nearly 20 years later, Julie’s injuries continue to remind her of the crash frequently, she lives with effects of a TBI, vision impairment, a hole in her ribs, flare ups of her knee injury (which will eventually need to be replaced), and a lung susceptible to pneumonia and infection.

The tractor trailer that hit Julie and David did not have underride guards or automatic emergency braking. Julie believes if any of these factors had been present on January 31st 2002, the outcome would have been drastically different. An underride guard would have prevented the car from going underneath the truck, automatic emergency braking would have stopped the truck before it was too late, and better oversight of the driver would have shown the trucking company their truck driver was mentally unstable at the time, as well as over his Hours of Service, and should not have been on the road that day.