'Extremely violent and scary:' St. David's surveillance video shows ER crash

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The video is hard to watch.

"It looks like it felt," Levi Bernard said. "It was really, really, extremely violent and scary."

Six months after a drunk driver sped into St. David's North Austin Medical Center, newly obtained surveillance footage shows how it all unfolded.

The Bernard family says it's important for the public, and policymakers, to see what happened – especially as Austin leaders, other cities, and at least one state senator, consider new hospital safety laws following a KXAN investigation. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) is even asking for a bollard review of all federal facilities in the southwestern U.S.

Watch the surveillance videos that captured the Feb. 13 crash at St. David's North Austin Medical Center below. Viewer discretion advised.

'Grateful to be alive'

"We're still very grateful to be alive," said Levi's wife Nadia, who is still recovering but no longer needs a wheelchair to get around. "We're doing better. It's a slow progress."

The silent surveillance videos, captured by St. David's cameras, renew questions about how the deadly crash was able to happen.

In a statement, St. David's asked us not to air the videos, even with faces blurred, citing concerns over "the privacy of our patients and employees." A city attorney who released the videos said it is evidence, and now public information, in a closed police case. We have ensured any identities beyond the Bernard family have been concealed.

The footage shows a white Acura sedan arriving to the hospital around 4:55 p.m. on Feb. 13 – more than 30 minutes before the deadly crash. At 5:34 p.m., video shows the car speeding toward the hospital ER doors. Inside, more than a dozen people are in the lobby waiting room, including all four members of the Bernard family.

The surveillance video shows just how close other patients came to being run over, including one person who jumped out of the way at the last second. Nadia and Levi were standing next to a large aquarium at the time with their two toddlers, whose faces were pressed up against the glass to get a closer look at the fish. In an instant, the car smashes into them, sending water, glass and debris flying everywhere. The car stopped when it crashed into a wall at the registration desk.

The driver, Michelle Holloway, had a blood alcohol level three to four times the legal limit to drive, toxicology results found. She never let off the gas as the car increased speed from 15 to 47 miles per hour, a police investigation found.

KXAN attempted to reach members of Holloway's family but were unsuccessful.

The footage is now evidence in a $1 million lawsuit against St. David's alleging "gross negligence" for not having security bollards at the time – a security feature in place at its other hospitals. St. David's North Austin Medical Center installed a dozen bollards after the crash.

"Why they waited until afterwards is a question only St. David's will be able to answer," said the Bernard family's attorney, Sean Breen, with the Austin law firm Howry Breen & Herman. "And we are going to get that answer."

KXAN asked Breen if there is any doubt bollards could have prevented disaster.

"It is a 100% engineering probability that bollards would have stopped this car," Breen said. "And nobody would have been hurt."

'Driving significant, positive change'

Three weeks ago, Austin City Council Member Mackenzie Kelly publicly credited the Bernard's story – told in a KXAN investigation which found more than 300 crashes involving hospitals nationwide in the past decade – for inspiring her resolution requiring crash-rated security barriers at new hospitals in Austin.

St. David's has not said whether the bollards it installed are crash-rated to withstand a vehicle impact.

"The awareness generated from your experience is driving significant, positive change in your community to prevent such tragedies from occurring again," Kelly said in public remarks directed at the Bernard family.

Nearly six months to the day after the crash, the family is still recovering emotionally and physically. KXAN asked what they think about the impact their story has had in Austin, other cities, and even on a federal level.

"It's unfortunate that bollards weren't there when this happened to us," Levi said. "But we're just super glad that our story is being used as a sort of catalyst."

"To how things should be," Nadia continued. "And that no one else will have to go through what we're going through."

This week, Kelly reacted to the surveillance videos.

"After viewing the latest footage, there is no doubt in my mind that improving hospital safety standards in Austin was the right thing to do," Kelly said in a statement. "First responders and citizens alike have reached out with appreciation, and we all wish something like this had been implemented sooner."

"Witnessing what the Bernard Family, and all the others in the video, went through is difficult to watch," she continued. "I am grateful for all the heroes that are seen jumping into action to help others, including the doctors, nurses, and other bystanders. Finally, thank you to my colleagues at city hall for cosponsoring and voting yes on my resolution to require crash tested bollards at hospitals and medical facilities. Together, we have made a difference to protect our community."

The Austin City Council will take a final vote in October to approve a hospital bollard requirement.