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Faison says he will wear his seat belt
Eleventh District State Representative Jeremy Faison was back in his office at the state capital on Tuesday. The lawmaker was injured in a Friday crash on Interstate 40 in Smith County, as he headed home from Nashville. He was admitted to Vanderbilt Medical Center with a fractured nose, cracked ribs and very severe head lacerations. The lawmaker was told he had five severe bumps to the head, and he received sutures as well as 28 staples to his skull. But he did not sustain a concussion or brain damage. Faison represents Cocke County and portions of Jefferson and Greene Counties, in the state House. He was injured in a rollover crash in a collision with a tractor-trailer after his 2018 Ford F150 pickup reportedly blew out a tire. After hitting the rig, the pickup veered right, striking the guardrail, and rolling several times, coming to rest on its top. The preliminary report from the Tennessee Highway Patrol indicates that Faison was not wearing his seat belt at the time of the collision, but Faison says he believes the airbags kept him in his vehicle. When the truck came to rest on its top, Faison was behind the driver's seat. In his office on Tuesday, the lawmaker chatted with representatives of the media regarding the incident. He said several truckers, including the one operating the rig he collided with, pulled him from his wrecked pickup after the crash. " I was too disoriented to get out on my own, and they put a shirt on my head where I was bleeding. I was told by the ER doctor that I would have bled out because I was bleeding so profusely. He could see my skull." The lawmaker said his wife, Mariam, who he described as a "rockstar" during the ordeal was told by physicians that, "I probably wasn't supposed to be alive." Faison said Governor Bill Lee and his wife came by the hospital Friday night and prayed with him. "I felt horrible that he would take time out of his busy schedule to check on me. The neat thing was that he put his hand on my shoulder and prayed with me. I'll never forget that as long as I live. Here I am, probably not supposed to be alive, and here the governor comes and prays with me." He said he went to his office because, even though he was hurting, Faison said he had bills to file in the legislature before the bill filing deadline today. "The most important story people need to know is that I didn't wear a seatbelt because it irritated my back, and that has always frustrated me. I injured my back when I was 14. But when someone is putting staples in your head, and they look at you and say ' you were about to die because I can see your skull,' I think for the temporary discomfort I'll wear my seat belt from here on out."
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