The Mercedes driver who was involved in a car accident with George Clooney earlier this week (10Jul18) has revealed he didn't see the actor's scooter until the last second because he was blinded by the sun.
The movie star is recovering at his rented home in Sardinia following the crash near Olbia, Italy on Tuesday, after he was briefly hospitalized, and now the plumber behind the wheel of the car has opened up about the drama.
Antonello Viglino tells Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera he didn't see the star as he attempted to make a turn into a residential compound.
"I couldn't see anything, I had the sun in my eyes," he says. "I was just starting to turn, I'd only gone a little way over the white line. I'm in shock. It all happened in an instant."
Viglino admits he recognized Clooney as soon as he took his helmet off.
"I tried to stay calm, I was worried that he had hurt himself really badly," he adds. "I could never have imagined that I would have hit George Clooney."
Surveillance video footage of the accident shows Clooney flying over the front of his scooter after hitting the plumber's car.
He smashed into a car windscreen head first, causing the glass to shatter, before he was tossed to the ground.
Gianni Visciano, a witness to the accident, tells the newspaper, "He was yelling and when a bodyguard took off his helmet it seemed that he couldn't move his legs."
The star was taken to John Paul II Hospital in Olbia via an ambulance after the crash but was later discharged with minor injuries.
Local reports suggest the 57-year-old movie star was heading to work when the accident happened near the entrance to the Costa Corallina residential compound in Olbia. He is in Sardinia filming a television mini-series adaptation of Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22.