Dick Van Dyke is recovering from minor injuries he sustained in a car accident early this month. DailyMail obtained the first pictures of the smiling 97-year-old carpooling with his 51-year-old wife, Arlene Silver, since his car accident. Though he seemed cheerful, the actor was sporting stitches on his chin, but he stated that he was nearly fully recovered from the injury. “I’m fine, just sore all over,” he told paparazzi on Friday. “The airbags did not deploy so I just had a face plant right in the steering wheel and it just made me a little dumber.” As he playfully joked about this, Van Dyke also said he was “doing okay” because he was 97 years old and all his “friends are dead.” A black and gray long-sleeved shirt, gray jeans, black shoes, and his wedding band were all part of the entertainer’s outfit for his outing.
On the morning of March 15, TMZ reported that Van Dyke was driving his Lexus LS 500 in Malibu, California when rainy weather conditions led to his vehicle sliding before crashing into a gate as a result. Van Dyke was found behind the wheel of his car by the police when they arrived on the scene, and paramedics later treated him for the minor injuries that he sustained during the incident. The Mary Poppins star was initially left with a bleeding mouth and nose due to the accident, as well as a possible concussion. Despite this, he refused to go to a local hospital and went home with a friend who came to pick him up.
Videos by PopCulture.com
According to the outlet, officers said drugs and alcohol were not involved in Van Dyke’s crash, but authorities sent a request to the DMV asking him to retake his driving test because of his age. A Jaguar Van Dyke was driving on a Los Angeles freeway nearly 10 years ago caught fire, but he walked away uninjured. Officers reported that witnesses saw flames and saw an elderly man leaning over behind the wheel of a burning car. Van Dyke was assisted from the burning vehicle by an onlooker, Jason Pennington. “I’m all ‘you gotta get out, you gotta get out’ and he goes, ‘I’m okay, I’m okay,” Pennington told CBS Los Angeles. “So, I just pulled him really hard.” Van Dyke tweeted a photo of his burned vehicle after the August 2013 crash, joking “Used Jag for sale REAL CHEAP!!”
