The motorcyclist badly injured in an April crash on the main strip is still recovering after more than six weeks. Newly released traffic camera footage shows the moment Luka Breunig was ejected from his bike, flying several yards across a Hathaway Avenue intersection. Now, his family is using the video to raise $10,000 for needed surgeries. 

Homestead resident Breunig, 22, was riding his motorcycle south on John Wayne Parkway when he struck the rear end of a Kia Sportage that turned left in front of him from Hathaway.  

What the authorities first reported to InMaricopa as a broken leg appears to have been a more severe bill of injuries, according to a recent GoFundMe campaign organized Friday by Breunig’s father, Franco. 

“He likes to mountain climb and skydive,” Frano Breunig described his son in an interview this morning. “He’s an adrenaline junkie.” 

The GoFundMe says Luka Breunig “suffered chest contusions and swollen lungs, a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula in his right leg, a fractured wrist and a hairline fracture of his C6 in his neck.” 

He spent nine days in a trauma center, according to André Norrils, the GoFundMe spokesperson in Phoenix. 

Franco Breunig said the family is praying his son, who had plans to join the military, will make a full recovery. 

“Alex Smith, the quarterback for the [Washington] Commanders, had the same type of injury on the football field … and he came and played for another year,” he said. 

The new video footage shows Luka Breunig hitting the back end of the SUV and flying into the air before landing hard on the blacktop. He briefly stands up and tries to walk out of the roadway but collapses near the curb. 

While the footage does not show whether either driver had a green light, Nicole Galindo, the owner of the Kia SUV and mother of the driver, spoke out on social media about the incident. 

“He slammed into my three kids,” said Galindo, also a Homestead resident, adding her youngest passengers were aged 4 and 1. “I’m just thankful my children are okay. If he had been driving a truck, he could have killed my 4-year-old.” 

Luka Breunig notably has faced several charges in court related to excessive speeding. He pleaded guilty to speeding at least 20 miles per hour over the limit in a 45-mph zone in Western Pinal Justice Court in 2022. Another speeding charge was dismissed in Maricopa Municipal Court after he agreed to take a corrective driving class in 2023. More recently, he pleaded guilty to speeding in Gila Bend Municipal Court in November.  

“We ask for your prayers, positive thoughts and continued hope for his recovery,” said Franco Breunig in the GoFundMe. “We are incredibly grateful that he survived, but the road ahead is long.”