Guy Crashes His BMW While Trying to Impress His Date

If your friends accused you of only trying to impress women when you picked up your BMW, you’re not the first. Bradley Van Outen was hoping the roundel would come through for him on his first date with Carrie-Anne Knox. Unfortunately, all he did was ruin a nice car and injure an innocent woman.

Reckless Driving Only the Start

Van Outen spun the BMW once and then lost control, which led to their impact with a tree. Following the crash, the driver dragged Knox from the car by her broken arm, putting her in severe pain. Even worse, he insisted on fleeing the scene, due to his suspended license. Knox fainted, and her would-be date left her in the care of a stranger on a park bench.

Passenger Badly Injured

In the violent crash, Knox was nearly killed. Her injuries include multiple cuts to the face, and eyelashes were even found in cracks in the car’s windshield. A spiral fracture to her right arm required nearly five hours of surgery to repair and saw doctors use multiple metal plates and 28 staples, and she also had spinal pains. It will take her several months to recover, but in a way, she’s lucky. 36.7% of people who get spinal injuries end up with at least partial paraplegia.

The Aftermath

Knox was taken to the hospital to recover, and she remembers her own children being frightened to look at her because of the state of her face. She attempted to contact Van Outen from the hospital but got only a simple “I’m sorry” in response.

Van Outen was apprehended by authorities and is looking at spending the next two years of his life behind bars.

No one wins in situations like this. Even the handsome E36 convertible, a car that could have provided someone with years of service and fun, is visibly totaled in the pictures. The take-home lesson here? Find a better way to impress your date — driving like a lunatic only puts lives in danger.