David Dobrik’s Accident

On June 25, 2020, David Dobrik and Jeff Wittek were involved in a serious accident in Provo, Utah, while filming content for Dobrik's YouTube channel as part of his "social media comeback" efforts. The idea was to swing individuals around on a rope attached to an excavator operated by Dobrik. During the stunt, Dobrik allegedly maneuvered the excavator at "unsafe speeds" and then abruptly stopped, causing Wittek to collide with the machinery.

Leaked footage of the accident shows Wittek crashing into the crane and subsequently falling into the water before friends rush to his aid and scream, “Call the ambulance!”

This resulted in severe injuries for Wittek, including a broken foot and hip, a torn ligament in his leg, a shattered skull in nine places, and near loss of an eye. Following the incident, Wittek shared his health challenges on social media and through his podcast, voicing his disappointment with Dobrik's handling of the situation and detailing the profound impact on his life. Wittek revealed that he had undergone multiple surgeries and faced a life-threatening situation due to the accident.

David Dobrik faced a lawsuit over the accident involving an excavator that caused severe injuries to Jeff Wittek. Wittek sued Dobrik, claiming he suffered critical injuries due to Dobrik's actions. According to the lawsuit, Dobrik's reckless behavior led to Wittek breaking his foot and hip, tearing a ligament in his leg, shattering his skull in nine places, and nearly losing an eye, which resulted in substantial financial losses and medical bills.

Wittek sought over $10 million in damages for general negligence and intentional tort. However, there has been no public announcement regarding a settlement or the outcome of the case.

No, Jeff Wittek and David Dobrik aren’t friends anymore. Wittek, once a member of David Dobrik’s Vlog Squad, regularly collaborated with Dobrik and other influencers in the group. Since the accident, that has changed and Wittek has been candid about his health struggles, sharing his journey on social media and through his podcast, Jeff FM.

In a February 2022 podcast episode, Wittek revealed that he no longer speaks to Dobrik, citing Dobrik's failure to check on him after the incident amongst other reasons. Wittek's decision to unfollow Dobrik on Instagram initially puzzled many, with commenters speculating that it was related to his injury. In an April 2021 episode of his documentary series, "Don't Try This at Home," Wittek finally shared his perspective as he admitted that he began to resent Dobrik, which made him hesitant to be active online.

On the same day, Wittek went live on Instagram to discuss the excavator accident, declaring that his friendship with Dobrik was over. He explained that he had undergone another surgery on his injured eye, but Dobrik did not reach out to him afterward, saying, "not a text or nothing," and added, "I'm done being fake friends with that mother****r."

Wittek clarified that his frustration stemmed not only from Dobrik's lack of contact but also from a clip shown to him by a producer for Dobrik's documentary. In the clip, Dobrik appeared to blame Wittek for the accident, suggesting that Wittek was the one who pushed for the stunt and implying that he was at fault. Wittek responded, "David blamed me for the crane. He insinuated that I was crazy, I was the one to push it, and I'm the reason that this happened when that's complete bullshit."

He went on to add, in the February 2022 episode, that “I’ve been protecting this guy for so long and there’s so much more to the story than just him not texting me for a week after I had such a drastic surgery where I could’ve been blind. I woke up from surgery. A day goes by, no text from him. Another day goes by, no text…. I just want to f*****g tell the truth, finally. I gave this mother****r so many chances. Even now, a week later, I still haven’t heard a peep.”

“Imagine you smash somebody’s skull in, they take it on the chin, they don’t sue you, they don’t f*****g press charges…I nearly died, I came an inch from death and an inch from going blind. I’ll have lifelong brain injuries and saved him from f*****g everything. You would have got deported, you would have got put in jail for manslaughter, you could have got sued for everything, I took it on the chin.”