Evan Turner and the Portland Trail Blazers opened up their preseason on Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns at home. The Blazers ended up losing to the Suns in their debut but what happened a day before the game possibly was way more important than anything that happened during the contest.
Blazers courtside reporter Brooke Olzendam was driving home following Blazers practice on Monday when she saw a woman on the side of the road after a head-on crash. Little did she know, the animated Blazers wingman Evan Turner was coming to help out right along with her.
Following comes from Joe Freeman of the Oregonian.
When Dianna Black finally gathered her wits, she was sitting in the passenger seat of a Rolls Royce on the shoulder of Interstate 5, dazed and confused and talking to a woman she had never seen.
Before she knew it, the woman said the strangest thing:
“Do you know you’re sitting in a Rolls Royce owned by one of the Trail Blazers?”
“My dad loves the Trail Blazers,” she replied.
The unfamiliar woman was Brooke Olzendam, the Blazers’ television sideline reporter, the Blazers player was Evan Turner, and the pair teamed for an unlikely assist Monday afternoon.
Black was driving north on I-5 Monday afternoon when the unthinkable happened. A van driving in front of her swerved hard one way, overcompensated back the other, and then twirled around, making a 180-degree turn to face oncoming traffic. In the blink of an eye, Black collided head-on with the van, her airbag exploding on impact.
A van driving in front of her swerved hard one way, overcompensated back the other, and then twirled around, making a 180-degree turn to face oncoming traffic. In the blink of an eye, Black collided head-on with the van, her airbag exploding on impact.
Olzendam, who happened to be driving behind Black, saw the whole thing as it happened and slammed on her brakes, narrowly avoiding becoming part of the accident. She pulled her car over to survey the scene and offer help. The driver of the van had stepped out of his vehicle, but Black stayed in her seat, woozy from the collision and a little worse for wear. Olzendam urged Black to remain seated and told her she was calling 911.
It took a few minutes to reach emergency personnel and as she waited, a familiar voice called from behind.
“All of sudden I hear this, ‘Hey, what’s going on? Can I help?” Olzendam said. “And it was Evan. He had pulled off — he was the only one to pull off — and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, yes.'”
“I’ve got a car people know,” Turner said. “So I would have been a huge (jerk) driving down the freeway like, ‘Oh, see you later, Brooke!’ That would have been awkward the next day. At the end of the day, it was great. Nobody was seriously hurt, most importantly, and the best that could have come out of it, did. Like I said, I don’t deserve anything. Brooke did it all.”
“They are my angels,” Black told The Oregonian. “They helped me. They got me out of my car and away from the airbags. It was smoking. Brooke calmed me down a lot.”
When I knew she was ok, I asked her if she knew she was in a Rolls Royce owned by @thekidet. She had ET talk to her Dad, a @trailblazers fan pic.twitter.com/vtjUeW9IRl
— Brooke Olzendam (@brookeolzendam) October 2, 2017
Black and her father made it to the Blazers preseason game against the Suns on Tuesday night thanks to a hook up from Olzendam.
My girl Dianna is feeling better today after the car crash yesterday. Made sure she got to bring her dad to the @trailblazers game. #RipCity pic.twitter.com/hJwRrUyLtP
— Brooke Olzendam (@brookeolzendam) October 4, 2017
Check out the full story, courtesy of KGW in Portland, Oregon.
