'Thank God He's Alive' Cowboys' Erik Williams Is Hurt In Car Wreck
Daily News Wire Services
Posted: October 25, 1994
DALLAS — Forget that Erik Williams is likely to miss the rest of the season, say Dallas Cowboys teammates and coaches.
At least he's alive after his car accident early yesterday in Dallas.
Williams, the Cowboys' Pro Bowl offensive tackle from John Bartram High School, sustained a damaged right knee, a broken rib, torn ligaments in his left thumb and facial lacerations that required plastic surgery.
A magnetic resonance imaging test on the knee indicated two torn ligaments (medial collateral and posterior cruciate) and a torn muscle. A decision regarding knee surgery will be made after four to six weeks.
Williams, 26, was heading home from a dance club, where several players had gone after returning to Dallas Sunday from the team's 28-21 victory over the host Arizona Cardinals.
He was traveling westbound on LBJ Freeway about 3:15 a.m. when he tried to take the northbound exit onto the Dallas North Tollway, said State Department of Public Safety officials. He clipped the guardrail as he was going an estimated 75 mph in his Mercedes 600SL. He was not wearing a seat belt, but the car's air bag deployed.
"He was going a little bit too fast, quite a bit too fast actually, in excess of 75 mph, when he clipped the guardrail, traveled up the grassy embankment 250 feet . . . and hit the retaining wall," DPS dispatcher Delane Lasater said.
A DPS spokesman said the trooper who investigated the accident said that Williams appeared to have been drinking but that alcohol was not a factor. He said state troopers plan to follow up on news reports that doctors performed a blood test on Williams.
Running back Emmitt Smith said he received a phone call informing him of Williams's accident and arrived on the scene while paramedics were working to get the injured man out of his car.
"It was very shaky," Smith said. "All we cared about was his health. His physical health comes first. Playing career comes second."
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that Williams will be paid his full $1.5 million salary for the season and that the club will pay for any medical costs not covered by the player's insurance.
Jones said he sent his private plane to Philadelphia to bring Williams's mother and sister to Dallas.
"He'll have the opportunity to play again but I doubt it'll be this year," coach Barry Switzer said after visiting Williams. "In my opinion he's going to need reconstruction of the right knee. Thank God he's alive."
Authorities say another player's automobile also was found wrecked yesterday.
First-round draft pick Shante Carver's truck was found overturned on northbound Central Expressway at the westbound exit ramp for the LBJ Freeway. Police said the truck hit a guardrail and flipped onto its hood, but the driver fled the scene. Authorities don't know whether the defensive end was involved in the wreck.
Someone identifying himself as Carver called police from a bar at 4 a.m. reporting his automobile had been stolen. Police were unable to contact Carver.
