Man Hit by Car In Apartment Speaks To The News On 6

By Jeffrey Smith, The News On 6

Tulsa, OK -- A North Tulsa man says he's thankful to be alive after a drunk driver crashed through a kitchen wall.

Todd Hitchcock, 44, was trapped for more than an hour underneath a pile of rubble.

The News On 6 asked him what was going through his mind as he waited to be rescued.

Todd Hitchcock was checking up on a sick friend Friday night - just hanging out and watching TV. He went to the kitchen to heat up a snack in the microwave. Police say that's when 26-year-old Pedro Lopez crashed the party.

"It felt like my whole body was in a vice, and it was clamping and clamping and clamping. That's the best way I can describe it," said Todd Hitchcock, crash victim.

Police say Lopez was driving drunk and plowed his truck through the kitchen wall of the North Tulsa apartment.

Hitchcock was slammed against the stove and was crushed underneath drywall, furniture and bricks.

He couldn't move, couldn't feel his legs.

"I remember the pain getting more and more intense, intense and then I just blacked out, and I don't know what happened after that," Hitchcock said.

Lopez put the car in reverse and tried to drive away but he was stopped by police and arrested.

Hitchcock was trapped for more than an hour; it took four firefighters to free him.

"There was on fireman behind me, he was telling me who he was and was trying to keep me calm, keep me relaxed, because I was in a lot of pain," Hitchcock said. "I was just glad to get out of that position."

Hitchcock arrived at the hospital with major bruises, but no broken bones.

He says he's still in a ton of pain and he cannot believe a drunk driver nearly killed him while he was standing inside an apartment kitchen.

According to police reports, Lopez's blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit. Hitchcock says he's speaking out because he hopes his story makes other drivers think before they get behind the wheel after drinking.