SANDY, Utah — The Utah Highway Patrol trooper who saw a wrong-way driver coming straight at him on Interstate 80 this week thought his life was over before he rammed into the pickup truck, stopping it dead in its tracks.
Watch raw video below of head-on collision between UHP trooper and truck:
Dash camera video released Thursday captured the intense moment when the collision occurred about a mile from the Great Saltair.
Sgt. Chad McCoy has been with the the UHP for over 12 years, and a colleague said he's shown time and time again that he is willing to put his life at risk to save others.
McCoy's wife received a call she never wanted to hear.
"At first it felt like it wasn't real," said Nicole McCoy. "I've had him call me before on his way home and say, 'Hey, I'm going to be late, I'm at a crash,' and and I was like did you have a tire blow? And he was like, 'No, I was in a head on."
In the video, McCoy is seen traveling in the left-most lane alongside another vehicle and a pair of semi trucks. Moments later, the vehicle ahead of his moves to the center lane as the driver going the wrong way barrels forward, dash camera footage shows.
Seeing the wrong-way driver, McCoy does not hesitate or move out of the way, rather, he takes the full impact of the wrong-way vehicle head-on.
"I just finished my shift in Salt Lake County, so I crossed over into Tooele County," explained McCoy. "I didn't hear anything on the radio in that time, I just noticed cars moving over to the right. Then I noticed a car traveling in the wrong direction and that it's actually moving at a pretty high rate of speed."
McCoy had just seconds to make a decision on what to do.
"I just tried to get the best angle that I could to try and get them to stop," he said.
Since the incident, McCoy has received praise from many for his heroic actions; but to him he's just doing his job.
"I just see myself as a regular trooper," he said. "I really think we all have that mindset that we all come to work everyday to just try and keep people safe."
In the crash, the wrong-way driver suffered only minor injuries while McCoy was not injured. Everyone involved was able to return home, but a UHP official said that's not always the case
"Wrong-way driving instances often, way too often, have sever outcomes or tragic outcomes, this includes fatalities and life-threatening injuries. When wrong-way crashes occur they're violent, they're tragic, and they're horrible," said Col. Michael Rapich.
McCoy is simply grateful he was able to come home to his wife and their four children.
"Just seeing him, I just wanted to hug him, but I didn't know if he was injured so it was more he's standing, he's alive he's breathing so let's get him to the doctor," said Nicole.
McCoy says he was checked out medically and should be cleared to return to Utah's roads next week.
