'I'M AN ANIMAL " Dorset mortgage worker watched her leg explode after crash

Dorset mortgage worker watched her leg explode after crash



A mortgage underwriter watched her leg explode when she was hit by a drink and drug-crazed driver who told police: 'I'm an animal - I smoke weed every day'.

Natalie Griffiths, 35, had just had her pet dog put to sleep by a vet when Steven Johnson, 22, lost control of his Ford Focus and crashed into a parked car.

The force of the impact propelled the other vehicle into Miss Griffiths, crushing her against the boot of her Mini Cooper.

The victim, from Christchurch, Dorset, woke up eight hours later in hospital to find doctors had been forced to amputate her right leg below the knee.

Johnson, who had never taken a driving test, fled the scene but was arrested later while trying to get into a taxi.

His car was wheel spinning out of a pub car park and swerving around in the minutes before the crash, witnesses said. Tests showed he had been drinking and was high on cannabis and cocaine.

Johnson told police: 'First time I bought a car. Got no insurance. I'm an animal. I smoke weed every day. Provisional - no insurance. I shouldn't have driven the car.'

Today, Miss Griffiths spoke of her ordeal after Johnson was jailed for three years.

She said: 'At the time of the impact, all I remember was hearing a sickening scream and for a split second I didn't realise it was me.

'It wasn't until my entire body erupted in the most indescribable agony that I realised the harrowing scream had been my own and it slowly dawned on me what had happened.

'I remember glancing down and realising with complete horror that my right leg had exploded beneath me. It had literally popped, just like a balloon would.

'There was blood everywhere and I went numb with shock. I thought that was it, I thought I was going to die there and then.'

Johnson, who held a provisional licence, had bought the Ford Focus with the intention of learning to drive but just a day after the purchase he took the car to The Talbot pub in Bournemouth.

Later that afternoon at 5.10pm on September 27 he was seen driving away erratically from the car park and smashed into a VW Polo as Miss Griffiths was tending to items which belonged to her late Yorkshire Terrier dog Poppy.

She added: 'I was loading Poppy's things into my boot when I heard the engine revving. It was so loud, and then I heard a bang. It was like thunder and I was flooded with panic. I was sort of just hanging there, pinned against my car before I finally managed to pull free and fell into a heap in the middle of the road.



'Then a young lad with a pop of dark hair came running towards me. I begged him for help but he just stared in terror at my legs. He recoiled in horror and fled the scene.'

A nearby resident who witnessed the smash called 999 and Miss Griffiths was airlifted to Southampton Hospital where doctors were unable to save her leg.

One week later, doctors decided that even her kneecap was too damaged - so she underwent yet another amputation to have it removed.

'I just couldn't believe what had happened and the pain was indescribable,' she said. 'My boyfriend Richard and my parents were at my bedside and they were devastated.

'I tried to keep positive, and told my parents Julie and Paul that I was happy to be alive and that I still had another leg. I didn't feel it, but I knew I had to be strong for them.

'Despite all the surgeries I kept in good spirits. I was in constant agony and there were times I wished the impact had killed me, as I thought it would have been less painful, but I still had so much to be thankful for.

'But I still couldn't understand what had happened or why it had happened to me. It wasn't until my birthday two weeks after the incident that I broke down for the first time, when the reality of what happened dawned on me.

'I had always loved horse riding and skiing, and had always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I had so much planned for my future, but it all felt so far out of reach. I knew there was so much I would never be able to do again.



'I had lived independently before, but I knew that would no longer be possible. I loved my parents but didn't want to return home, and I had only been with Richard for a month.

'I knew having a partner with one leg was an enormous commitment, but even more so given the short time we'd been together. How could I expect him to give up so much to take care of me?

'I remember telling him that I'd understand if he wanted to leave me. Instead he told me he loved me now more than ever, and that seeing what I'd been through made his love for me grow stronger.

'I felt so blessed. He even started looking for a home we could live in together and found us the most beautiful little bungalow. It meant so much.'