'It's a Miracle' 6-Week-Old Baby Thrown From SUV Survives Crash Unscathed
TURLOCK (CBS13) — The father of a 6-week-old baby boy, who was thrown from his family SUV in a violent crash in Turlock, spoke to CBS13 about his son's miraculous survival.
"God works in mysterious ways," Ulizes Benitez said.
Little Ezra is back in daddy's arms after the family survived a violent crash, leaving their SUV totaled. Benitez was driving when he was forced to swerve to avoid another vehicle.
"That's when I lost control and spun out of control and remember feeling weightless," Benitez said, "and just thinking of my kids, and my wife. So many things were going through my head."
Every window in the SUV shattered in the crash. Once the vehicle came to a stop, Benitez looked back to find his weeks-old son gone.
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"It was unreal, I couldn't believe what was happening," Benitez said. "Just thinking 'Where is he?' It was muddy. It was wet. I didn't know if he was in the water somewhere. I didn't know if he was on the road."
Benitez started searching in the dark.
"I was trying to hear his cries," Benitez said. "I couldn't hear nothing."
After hailing a first responder for help, Baby Ezra was spotted in the distance still strapped in his car seat. His eyes were open and he was okay.
"He was awake," Benitez said. "He just looked at us. He wasn't crying. I holded him, I holded him. I was so... I can't explain the feeling I got when they gave him back to me."
The car seat had flown out of the vehicle during the crash. It landed upright in a bush.
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"The officer said it's a one in a million chance how he just came out and landed so perfect," Benitez said.
Against impossible odds, baby Ezra is okay. Each cry is now a gift in the Benitez home. Ezra's two-year-old brother Elijah hurt his hand in the crash and Benitez hurt his knee. His wife is still in the hospital with a broken pelvis. They all still have each other. Somehow.
"It was a crazy accident," Benitez said. "And we're all still here. It's a miracle."
The CHP says the base of that car seat had not been properly secured.
Baby Ezra and his brother were flown by helicopter to UC Davis Medical Center just as a precaution after the crash on Sunday night. They were released Monday night.
