Police Dash Cam Video Of Garland Tornado Obtained
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GARLAND (CBS11) - CBS 11 News has obtained video images never before seen from the immediate aftermath of December's deadly Garland tornado.
Dash cam videos obtained by CBS 11 News show some of the vehicles minutes after they were blown off I-30 to the service road below.
Gary Tucker watched them for the first time. He was able to crawl out of his overturned pickup truck along with his girlfriend.
"I remember thinking I'm doing to die, this is it," says Tucker.
Tucker says the tornado was only about 20 feet away when he first saw it.
He is convinced that they survived because they were wearing seat belts because the tornado took everything inside his truck.
"Everything that was in my truck was gone," says Tucker, "My girlfriend had bruises where it had lifted her up."
CBS 11 also obtained the first released Garland Police reports which detail damage to the 14 vehicles either on or below the overpass where the tornado crossed and killed nine people.
Victims that the reports show were sucked from their vehicles including one that was found on "…the cement embankment of a large ditch" and some that even had their clothes ripped off.
The dash cam videos also show the heroic role citizens played in helping rescue workers tend to the injured victims.
Tucker says he's speaking out to warn others not to venture out anytime there's bad weather nearby.
"If I can prevent one family from loading up and driving into the next tornado because we hear these warnings all the time in hindsight I would have watched the news closer I would have known where it was and never chanced getting into the car," says Tucker.
These reports also reveal for the first time a man was actually living in a storage facility off I-30 when the tornado destroyed it but survived.
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