The man who claims actress Gwyneth Paltrow ran into him back in 2016 during a ski slope crash took the stand on Monday and described his side of the incident in a Utah courtroom.
“I heard something I had never heard at a ski resort — a blood-curdling scream,” Terry Sanderson said. He says at that point he thought someone has lost control while on the slopes.
The crash took place on Feb. 26, 2016, at Deer Valley Resort in Park City. On Friday, the MCU star told the court that Sanderson, a retired optometrist, ran into her from that back. Three years later, Sanderson filed a lawsuit against Paltrow for $3 million claiming the crash left him with a permanent brain injury.
His initial $3 million amount in damages has since been reduced to $300,000. The actress responded with a countersuit for $1 and attorneys fees.
“I got hit in my back so hard, and right at my shoulder blades,” Sanderson continued on the stand. “It felt like it was perfectly centered, the fists and the poles were right there, at my shoulder blades. Serious, serious smack. I’ve never been hit that hard.”
Sanderson said the impact was so severe that it sent him “flying,” adding that snow was everywhere as he lost control of his stance. Protecting his face and head was his next move, the optometrist continued.
Since the incident, Sanderson said, he’s no longer able to ski due to his injuries, which includes four broken ribs and a concussion. “I’m like living another life now,” Sanderson said.
Paltrow was sworn in Friday, sharing that she was going “relatively slow” downhill. “Two skis slid between my skis, and all of a sudden there was a … body pressing into my back,” Paltrow said. “I was confused at first, it’s a very strange thing to happen on a ski slope.”
“And I froze, and I got very upset a couple of seconds later … I didn’t know if it was an intentional assualt of a sexual nature,” Paltrow went on.
The end result of the case will likely revolve around whether Sanderson or Paltrow was uphill when the crash happened.