Wreckage of the plane crash that killed a pilot, co-pilot and two friends of celebrity DJ Adam Goldstein and former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker.
People Magazine, September 2008
How did Travis Barker and DJ AM (real name: Adam Goldstein) survive the plane crash that killed four people and left them with second- and third-degree burns?
“[Travis and Adam] told me that they slid down the wing on the right side of the plane,” Lieut. Josh Shumpert of the South Congaree Police Department tells PEOPLE. Shumpert was one of the second responders at the scene – Congaree is the town outside of Columbia, S.C. – after the airport police arrived.
“They said they were on fire,” adds Shumpert, whose patrol car’s dashboard camera caught video of the fiery aftermath, “and that they tackled each other and put each other out.”
“When I got there they were on the side of the road,” says Shumpert. “They were pacing and in shock.”
“Travis was very shaken up,” he says, noting that Barker was given Gatorade after he asked for some water.
According to the lieutenant, the pair weren’t naked, contrary to eyewitness statements.
“Travis was wearing some kind of shorts and no shirt,” says Shumpert, adding that Goldstein was wearing shorts or boxers as well. “Travis had one sock on. And a black hat on his head.”
Quick Thinking
The fast reactions of the former Blink 182 drummer Barker, 32, and Goldstein, 35, gave them a good chance of a full recovery.
“Since both Barker and Goldstein are in overall good health and didn’t suffer from any other crash-related complications, a full recovery is expected,” said Dr. Fred Mullins of the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors’ Hospital in Augusta at a Sunday morning press conference.
Mullins added that recovery from such burns can take as long as a year.
* I was the first reporter to break this aspect of this story and landed exclusive interviews with several of the first people to reach the crash scene. Minutes after this story posted on People.com, dozens of major media outlets copied, crediting People with the breaking news.
See original post of this story and related articles on People.com.
