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Semi driver miraculously rescued after Louisville bridge crash shares her story

For the first time, Sydney Thomas sits down to tell her story.

Doug Proffitt, Sherlene M Shanklin, Joseph Garcia

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Published: 4:48 PM EDT May 16, 2024
Updated: 10:01 AM EDT May 18, 2024

The semi-truck driver who spent nearly an hour dangling over the Ohio River after a serious crash said it’s still hard to look at the bridge a little over two months after her dramatic rescue.

“This is the closest I’ve been,” Sydney Thomas told WHAS11 in her first interview since the incident that made national headlines.

“Sometimes you pray, and I’m guilty of this, I pray, and I don’t think God is listening,” she said, wiping tears from her face as she recalled the harrowing experience. “But he was that day.”

Thomas, 26, has spent the last few months healing with the help of her family and 5-year-old son, Mason. Her father, Marc Thomas, a longtime semi-truck driver himself, said God was absolutely watching over his daughter that day.

"It didn't really hit me until I looked over to my right [while crossing the Kennedy Bridge] and I'd seen that equipment hanging into the air," her father said. "That [rescue] was nothing but God displaying himself to me."

The closest Thomas has been to the bridge since the accident was during her interview with WHAS11 on May 13.

“It’s kind of hard to look at, but I’m not there,” she said, standing along the Waterfront. “I’m here.”

Thomas plans to go back to work for Sysco on June 1, but she won't be hopping into another semi immediately.

"It's a hard job, but my coworkers are like family to me and I'm comfortable, and I know how to do my job," she said. 

Credit: WHAS11 News
Marc Thomas is thankful to those who reached out and prayed for his daughter after the Louisville bridge crash in March. | May 13, 2024

When she does get back behind the wheel, Thomas said she won't be going across the Clark Memorial Bridge, also known as the Second Street Bridge, ever again. But nearly one month after the crash, she nearly did.

"I got in an Uber one day and he was about to go across [that bridge]. I said 'No! You can't do that,'" she said.

Thomas explained to the driver who she was and he asked, "That was you?" She said yes and the driver immediately turned around and took her over the nearby toll bridge.

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