The incessant, around-the-clock-media vigil over the condition of Bobbi Kristina Brown obscured the fact that there was a victim in that crash that Brown allegedly caused and he remains in a suburban Atlanta hospital several weeks later.
Russell Eckerman, 41, of Marietta is reportedly in “very serious condition,” according to a family spokesperson, from the injuries he sustained when Bobbi Kristina rammed into his car on January 27. The woman riding with Bobbi Kristina was also hospitalized, according to Access Hollywood.
Eckerman’s family also maintains a vigil for his recovery.
According to 11 Alive, Bobbi Kristina was driving on Holcomb Bridge Road at approximately 5 p.m. According to Roswell (Ga.) police, Brown was driving west, lost control near the intersection with Martin Landing Drive and veered into on-coming traffic and slammed into Eckerman.
Eckerman is still unable to speak and, in fact, nearly died at the scene of the crash.
Passerby Osse Lessage was with his brother-in-law, outside a nearby strip mall, and they “heard a big bang.”
When Lessage arrived to try to tend to Eckerman and extricate him from the car, he had no pulse in his neck, and was unresponsive, Roswell police report states.
“He was bleeding from his head, and he was bleeding from his mouth, and his ears, as well. Yeah, it was terrible,” Lessage told 11 Alive.
There may have been a vehicle malfunction because Eckerman’s air bag had not deployed, which exacerbated Eckerman’s injuries. He was found leaning forward against the steering wheel, which was bent from the impact of the head-on crash.
Lessage, unable to pull Eckerman from the driver’s side because of the extensive damage, eventually did so from the other side. He reportedly reached in and pushed the driver’s seat back, and eased Eckerman into a reclining position. Only then did Eckerman begin to breathe again.
Eckerman still did not respond to Lessage’s calls, 11 Alive said, “except after a few minutes Eckerman did move his right arm.”
Lessage said a frantic Bobbi Kristina Brown immediately jumped out of her car and raced to Eckerman to find out his condition.
“She was running and screaming, ‘Oh my gosh.’ She was in shock, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, what just happened, oh my gosh.’ And my brother-in-law was there (saying) ‘calm down, calm down,’” according to the news station, and they worked to calm Bobbi Kristina.
Eventually Roswell police charged Bobbi Kristina initially with failure to maintain lane. Brown claimed that a blown tire caused her to lose control, according to accesshollywood.com, and officers reportedly found a nail in a back tire.
A woman with Bobbi Kristina, Danyela Bradley, 18, of Cumming, was also taken to a hospital but no word on her condition or if her injuries required her to remain in the hospital.
Just days later, Bobbi Kristina Brown, would also be found unresponsive. Brown, 21, is the daughter of the late legendary Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown. She was, of course, found face-down in the bathtub of her Roswell home by a family friend then resuscitated by live-in boyfriend Nick Gordon. She remains in a medically-induced coma at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.