Crime & Safety

As Car Dangled From Bridge, Teacher Feared Child Had Been Thrown Out

The San Juan Capistrano teacher appears on the Today show to tell her story for the first time. Then the show reunites her with two of her rescuers.

Kelli Groves, the San Juan Capistrano teacher whose car dangled off a Santa Barbara bridge for hours in a January rescue that made headlines around the world, spoke for the first time publicly Tuesday on “Today.”

“I could not see either one of them,” Groves said of her two daughters, ages 10 and 10 weeks, who were also trapped in the borrowed BMW, hardly recognizable as it clung to a guardrail, more off than on the bridge.

Watch the video here.

Find out what's happening in San Juan Capistranowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Groves is a teacher at , where her daughter Sage also attends. She was on maternity leave after having Mylo. The threesome was headed to visit the mission at San Luis Obispo for Sage’s fourth-grade mission project.

That’s when suddenly, just south of Buellton, a driver of a big rig did not turn with the curvature of the road. Instead, he drove through the back of Groves’ car, and freefell to the creek 50 feet below. Driver Charles Allison Jr. died in the crash. Investigators later blamed him for the crash after finding methamphetamine in his system.

Find out what's happening in San Juan Capistranowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Read more about the Kelli Groves crash:

“I could reach my arm back, and I could feel Mylo’s head. And as I brought my hand back, I noticed she was bleeding pretty badly from her head. But I couldn't see her face. I could hear her crying a little bit. Sage is the one that I had no idea where she was in the car,” Groves said, according to a transcript provided by MSNBC

Groves yelled for Sage.

“I said, Sage, Sage, you’ve been in an accident,” she told Today.  “I couldn’t see where she had been in the car. I thought for a minute maybe she’d been thrown out.”

Then she saw it. A tuft of Sage’s hair. She desperately tried to reach her, her hand navigating the twisted path created by mangled metal.

“I started patting her head calling out to her. ‘Sage, Sage, answer me!’ And she wouldn't answer me, and she wasn't moving,” Groves said. “I had no idea what shape the rest of her body was in. All I could see was that little circle of her head.”

The story of the miracles that followed have become almost legendary. A tow truck driver who was driving a bit behind and had watched the accident unfold stopped to help. He eventually winched the car to his truck.

Firefighters from around the county were meeting nearby, instead of being long off. They were on the scene in minutes.

And most famously, a group of Navy Seabees were caught up in the ensuing traffic with the exact tool rescuers needed, a heavy-duty forklift that stabilized the car from a neighboring bridge about 10 feet away.

Throughout it all, one Santa Barbara County firefighter in particular,  Greg Knuckles, was her “rock,” Groves told interviewers.

“It was someone I could communicate with directly. As he would walk away, I would find myself saying, ‘Where's Greg? Where's Greg? He just -- he just reminded me of why I -- what I needed to do, and that was to save my girls,” she said.

Firefighters pulled them out one by one, first Mylo, who had one scratch, Sage, who is still recovering from her injuries, and Kelli, who is also still on the mend. Groves said she has never had a chance to thank her saviors in person.

That’s when the Today crew pulled a surprise. They brought in Knuckles and California Highway Patrol Sgt. Matt Mullen.

“Thank you. Thank you,” Groves said, overcome with emotion, tears welling and hugs abounding.

Asked what it’s like to see photos of the rescue, Groves said: “It's still surreal to me that we're sitting here, and that was us in that car. It was terror at first, and then it fades to just relief. Huge amount of relief and gratitude, and it's hard to watch, but at the same time, it really happened. It's what we're taking with our lives and moving forward.”


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.