One moment, Professor William Clark said he was walking toward his office at Ohio State University — the next, he was hurtling through the air.
“It happened so fast,” he told reporters Tuesday. "I was turned to go back in the building and all of a sudden there's this bang and this car's there and I get flipped in the air," he said.
Clark was one of 11 people — including 9 students — who were hospitalized Monday after 18-year-old student Abdul Razak Ali Artan allegedly crashed his car and began wildly slashing at people with a butcher knife.
"It seemed to me, maybe the time frame is a little compressed, but it seemed to me literally within 15-30 seconds I heard the shots and it was over."
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Officials said a campus police officer arrived at the scene within a minute of the initial crash and quickly shot the suspect dead.
Clark, a professor emeritus of engineering, told reporters that he didn't realize how badly he'd been injured until a student pointed out that he was tracking bloody footprints into the engineering building.
He was treated at a nearby hospital and discharged Tuesday.
He said his daughter knows the officer and that he’s grateful he acted quickly to save his life and potentially the lives of other students.
“If he was here, I’d put my arm around him and tell him has a lot to cope with in the days to come,” Clark said, tearfully. “But he did the right thing.”
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Investigators are now looking into whether Artan was inspired by ISIS or al Qaeda.
Clark said as a "researcher" he would withhold his personal judgment against Artan until he had all of the facts.
“Having been a faculty member for 35 years, I’m only too aware of the things that drive students to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do,” Clark said.
“I’m sore, but I’m going home this afternoon and he’s dead," he said. "My sense is, out of respect for the living and the dead, we should wait to know what the truth is."
Hospital officials said two students remain hospitalized with injuries but “all are doing well.”
Ohio State University will hold a vigil on campus Tuesday night to honor those injured in the attack.
