Navy Vet Paralyzed in Crash Told He'll Walk Again

"I was sitting here watching TV and I hear him holler out 'I really miss dad walking,'” the Navy veteran said of his 5-year-old son

The Navy sailor paralyzed when his truck was forced off a San Diego highway overpass by another driver has been told there’s a chance he’ll walk again.

It’s been four months since Navy Petty Officer Kenny Freudenvoll’s truck flew off the I-8 off-ramp and down 50 feet to the ground in an accident in Mission Valley.

The crash destroyed parts of his spine, so Freudenvoll uses a wheelchair.

“One of the surgeons who did surgery on my back says there is a very good chance I will walk again,” said Freudenvoll.

Freudenvoll’s truck was crunched and left in pieces after the fall. The veteran recalls sitting in the wreckage and thinking his life would end there, that he'd never see his wife and children again.

Although he’s only five years old, Freudenvoll’s son Jacob is helping in a big way.

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Jacob, 5, is an inspiration for his father.

Jacob inspires his father to get through hours of painful physical therapy each week, even though his dad said there are tough moments.

“He was going to bed, and I was sitting here watching TV and I hear him holler out, 'I really miss Dad walking,'” Freudenvoll said.

“That's the biggest thing that's hit me the worst, just being more independent and tying my own shoes and getting dressed without having somebody help me,” Freudenvoll said.

Kenneth Freudenvoll talks about his injuries and his future after another driver crashed into him on I-8 in Mission Valley. NBC 7’s Candice Nguyen reports.

The driver who struck Freudenvoll’s truck and fled the scene pleaded guilty Monday to driving without a license and hit-and-run causing injury.

When California Highway Patrol officers later caught up with Jose Uribe, they said the defendant tried to change his tire and wipe off some of the paint damage caused by the collision.

It was Uribe’s passenger who turned him in to authorities.

Prosecutors say Uribe fled the scene because he was driving without a license.

At the time of the crash, Uribe was on probation for false imprisonment and concealing evidence charges stemming from a 2012 rape case.

Freudenvoll didn’t know what to say about Uribe’s guilty plea. He only worries if Uribe doesn't learn his lesson, he'll end up hurting someone else.

Uribe is scheduled to be sentenced April 13.

A truck drove off Interstate 805 and landed in a restaurant parking lot in Mission Valley. NBC 7’s Vanessa Herrera reports.
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