Stunt driver speaks out on fatal monster truck crash

Stunt driver Mario Doornink, who killed three people and injured 28 in an accident during a stunt last year, doesn't know whether he will ever drive his monster truck again. He spoke to the AD about the incident.

A day after Doornink appeared in court because the Motor Traffic Guarantee fund wants to take his monster truck, he read in the newspaper that he said that he would perform with the monster truck again. "I never said that", Doornink said to the AD. "I really have no idea whether I'' ever dare to step back in that truck again. I still live with it every day. I go to a 'mad doctor', as I call it. But what can that man do for me? It can't bring the victims back."

Doornink's show in Haaksbergen on September 28th last year went horribly wrong. After crushing five cars, he somehow ended up in the audience - three people were killed and dozens were injured. Doornink has played that moment over in his head a thousand times, he said to the AD. "The gas kept going. How? I really have no idea. I was shocked, looked at the pedals and thought in a flash: Huh, I do have my foot on the brake. But it kept going. So I hit the emergency button." he said. "The truck stopped immediately, otherwise it would have driven further. But I was in the audience. It happened so fast." He continued: "No one could foresee it. I feel like shit, I sympathize with all the relatives and victims, really. But I wonder every day what i could have done differently."

The Motor Traffic Guarantee Fund has seized Doornink's properties and cars because the monster truck was not insured. The fund will pay millions out to the victims and wants that money from Doornink. According to the stunt driver, he can not insure the monster truck because he can not get a license plate for the vehicle. "So I always put contractually: the organizer must insure everything through his event. Otherwise I do not agree." Then why does the fund want the money from Doornink and not the organizer? "Apparently," Doornink said "the event area is seen as a public road and an exemption should have been asked for my truck. But the organization should have done that. It says so in the contract."

The stunt driver does not know what the future will bring. He will never be able to repay the millions that the Guarantee Fund wants from him. "A criminal case against me is still coming and we are suing the organization. Who knows, maybe in two years I lost everything and live in a box somewhere. But even then I will ask myself: what could I have done differently?"