07:00 at 51st Avenue and Cactus in Phoenix, Arizona, a blue car driven by a 19 year old teenage mother, traveling roughly 65 mph, runs a red light and t-bones Nutt and coworker Jason Wilkonen. They were on their way to work going approximately 45 mph.

Damon became ejected from the work-truck and rolled down the street 10 times before stopping. He sustained 2 lacerations to the head, a broken arm, lacerated tendon, and nerve damage. The driver, Wilkonen, suffered minor injuries. Neither was wearing a seatbelt.

5 teenagers, a 15 year old, 2 sixteen year olds, one 17, and a 19 year old diver died from the collision. All of the children but one died at the scene.
According to Nutt, “the young girl that I saw in the middle of the street, that I went to go and help, she, her poor little body was broken in about a million places and she actually lived until noon that day.”

Recalling the moments after the accident Nutt said, “the paramedics showed up and the cops showed up and they started shaking us down because they thought we just killed these 5 kids. They’re asking me for I.D. and I’m like bleeding out, half of my face is gone from road rash and my arm is hanging there by a thread. These cops are still shaking us down and everything.”
Paramedics neglected to treat Nutt for 10-15 minutes after they arrived at the scene. He received surgery later that day which saved his arm after surgeons reconstructing it using 2 titanium plates and 14 titanium screws.

3 years after the incident and a long road of intensive therapy, Damon is a student at Yavapai Community College in Prescott, AZ. He is majoring in Anthropology.

According to Nutt, he earns excellent grades not for himself, but does it “for those kids who can’t have a future now.” He says that “it’s kind of strange that the worst thing that ever happened to me is probably the best thing at the same time.”

Nutt plans on mailing recently earned scholastic honors awards to the deceased teenager’s parents in order to demonstrate that he isn’t “some type of screw up” and won’t waste the life he has been given a second chance at.

Retired, Damon is currently living off of workers compensation earned from his employer at the time of the incident, L&M Kitchen and Bath Designs. He is also gaining government aid such as disability. Nutt suffers from Horners syndrome and has nerve damage which he relates to, “being hit in the funny bone with a baseball bat”, a condition which he will be subjected to for the rest of his life.

According to Nutt, while waiting in the hospital, he was escorted out of the operating room by police due to 3 undisclosed individuals who were snorting speed or cocaine off a piece of glass, “about 10 feet away from the operating table.” When offered some of the drugs, Nutt declined.