LOUISVILLE, Ky. — What was a quiet and empty drive home from her brother’s house, could have been a fatal last trip for Miranda Cecil and her 11-month-old daughter Ariana.
"As soon as I saw headlights I knew we were about to get hit. I knew something was about to happen," Cecil said. "It was just white lights – from the headlights to the actual going into the guardrail."
She was in the passenger seat of her car around 3 a.m. Sunday, heading west on Interstate 64, driving out of the Cochran Hill Tunnel near the Grinstead Drive exit.
Suddenly, they were hit head-on by another car going the wrong direction on the interstate.
“When I closed my eyes after the first hit, I was just like, ‘we’re going to die’,” she said.
Cecil said her car is totaled but more importantly, no one in her car was killed including her daughter, who was sitting in her car seat.
“Just the thought that I had my daughter in the car, I don’t know what I would do if I lost her,” she said while crying.
Only a scratch, Cecil described. For her – a broken nose and some bruises.
"My nose was just gushing. I was in pain. I didn't think I could move. I was really traumatized," she said.
Since Sunday, she has relived those moments in her head, thinking of the worse outcomes that could have happened.
“The fact that we all literally go out and walked away from that – that’s a blessing.
Metro Police received calls of a wrong-way driver and took a report at the scene. LMPD said no arrests were made and can’t say at this time if the driver was under the influence.
"Just for that to happen, like I don’t – I don’t even understand how that happened to us,” Cecil said. "I never would've thought that I would've been in that type of accident to where someone was coming head on to us on the wrong side of the road."
Left in confusion and trying to heal from what happened, Cecil said she wants to speak out for victims of crashes who don’t survive.
“Just know it could’ve been you, it could’ve been your kids, your grandkids, your nieces, your nephews, your brother, your sister – whoever,” she said. “I’m just thankful we made it out. I really am.
Cecil said she is looking into taking some possible actions against the other driver, but isn't sure yet. Right now, though, she's focused on figuring out replacing car seats for her kids and potentially replacing her car.
Contact reporter Tyler Emery at temery@WHAS11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@TylerWHAS11) and Facebook.
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