Sammy Davis Jr lost his left eye in a horrific car accident near the intersection of Cajon Boulevard (old Route 66) and Kendall Drive on Nov 19, 2023 as he was returning to Los Angeles after performing at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.
Sammy and his valet Charlie Head, had left Las Vegas after Sammy’s show the previous evening and Charlie drove the first leg to Victorville where they stopped for gas.
Sammy took over driving his shiny new black Cadillac down through the Cajon Pass and on toward San Bernardino. Charlie was laid out in the back seat trying to catch a couple of hours sleep before the pair’s arrival in Los Angeles.
After 7 a.m., Sammy encountered the fork where Kendall Drive splits off to the left and Cajon Boulevard continues to the right. At the split, an elderly lady driving a Chrysler had missed her turn onto Kendall and was backing into Sammy’s lane to get herself back on course.
Sammy slammed into the rear of the Chrysler. The Cadillac careened off the Chrysler, miraculously missing oncoming traffic, and came to a stop after slamming into a stone column at the entrance to a driveway.
Sammy's car hit that rock pylon head on, and the force actually pushed the engine back into the front seat. The impact of the crash had driven Sammy’s face into the steering wheel, and his left eye was forced out of its socket by the bullet-shaped cone at the center of the wheel. He broke his nose on the sun visor, and his knee cap on the emergency brake handle. Charlie also was badly injured in the collision. He was thrown face-first into the back of the steel-framed front seat. The blow fractured his jaw and broke out all of his teeth, but Charlie remained conscious.
The driver of the Chrysler and her passenger were both injured, too. The two ladies were thrown into the back seat of their car by the impact. The driver, 72-year-old Helen Boss, suffered a back injury, and her passenger, 69-year-old Bessie Ross, suffered a broken leg.
Sammy and Charlie were rushed by ambulance to San Bernardino County Hospital and were transferred to San Bernardino Community Hospital later that day.
A well-known San Bernardino eye surgeon Frederick H. Hull operated on Sammy’s eye. He had to remove Sammy’s left eye, and it was still touch-and-go for his right eye. During the surgery on Sammy, Hull had attached a prosthetic socket onto Sammy’s left eye muscles that would be used to hold and direct a “glass eye” that would be implanted after he healed further.
Sammy stayed at his good friend, Frank Sinatra's house in Palm Springs while recovering.
Tracey Davis always knew growing up that her father, Sammy Davis Jr., loved her and her two adopted brothers, Mark and Jeff. Know more as she shares fond memories of Sammy Davis Jr. at Florida Courier.