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Monica is still emotional remembering when the car she was riding in hit Utah Highway Patrol Sergeant Cade Brenchley's vehicle on a slick road. Cade spent several days in the hospital with broken bones and a torn ACL, and recovered fully. On-scene at the accident, Cade remembers Monica staying calm and positive as she made sure he was okay until medical help arrived. "You held my hand, which brought me a lot of comfort, and I don't think I ever thanked you for that."
Monica Muncy: The car in front of us was slowing down faster than we could, and so we were trying to tell her, "Tap the brakes. Tap the brakes. Tap the brakes." And when your tires don't have traction there's nothing you can do. So we started swerving, which is where we hit you.
Cade Brenchley: I vaguely remember feeling like a jolt and everything going black.
Monica: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Cade: And then I felt another kind of jolt, which looking back watching the video would have been me coming to a rest next to the white car. I was probably out five or six seconds. Seven maybe. And then I remember thinking, "Holy crap. I've been hit."
Monica: The first thing I did is, I looked at all of my friends and I was like, "Conscious. Conscious. Conscious. Gotta get out and go check on this guy that we just hit."
Cade: You came running up and you said, "My name's Monica."
Monica: You were awake, and you didn't have any super obvious injuries, so I was like, "Okay. Head injury is really likely at this point, and I don't have a whole lot of medical knowledge, but I know you should probably keep somebody awake if they have a head injury." So, that was what I did. I was like, "I'll just make him keep talking and then he'll have to stay awake."
Cade: And I remember you asking, "What's your name? How many kids do you have? What are their names? How old are they?" I was like, "My oldest is 14, almost 15." And I'm like, "Oh, why do I have to answer these questions?" But looking back, it was awesome that that's what you thought to do in order to determine, I guess, head injuries. And you held my hand, which brought me a lot of comfort, and I don't think I ever thanked you for that. You were so calm, and you were so positive, and I don't want to say a bubbly voice, but...
Monica: As bubbly as one can be in that sort of situation.
Cade: And I can't tell you how much appreciate it. Not just holding my hand, but talking to me and making sure I was okay.
Monica: I was like, I'll just be in charge of making sure he's okay. I'll just sit here.
Cade: And that's when the driver came up and she said, "Officer? I was driving the car, and I hit you, and I'm..." And she just starting going into hysterics. And I remember you, I don't want to say shooing her away, but just...
Monica: I shooed her away. Yeah. That was my job that whole night, was I acted like the Mom. All three of them individually had breakdowns on scene, and I just kept going back and was like, "It's going to be okay. We'll take care of things in steps. Let's get Cade medical help." And it wasn't until way later that night once we got back to my house, and by the time I closed the door in my car, I was just bawling. That was my first breakdown.
Cade: Honestly Monica, I couldn't ask for a better outcome. I had four broken ribs and a broken shoulder blade and my left knee, I had a slightly torn ACL. You know, I stayed in the hospital for three or four days. I thought it was very courageous of the four of you to come and see me and bring me flowers.
Monica: Was there ever any moment where you're like, "Gah! Like, I'm angry at them." Or just, "I wish they would have been smarter about this."
Cade: You know what? I can honestly say 100% I never had that. People make mistakes. I make them. Everybody makes them. I really never was angry.
Monica: Today was my first time driving through that canyon on my own. I still get nervous because I know that no matter how carefully I drive, something else could happen. You didn't know it was going to happen, and that could happen at any point. But I've also tried to be more conscious and be more aware of things. It took me a long time to heal, and I'm still healing. I think it'll always be something that I deal with kind of emotionally. But that's also taught me more about myself. Learning that things are going to happen, and you can't always snap it away, but you can learn how to manage it. And I think being able to talk with you and knowing that we have this friendship now has really helped. So, thank you.
Cade: You're welcome. Thank you.