Brosnan son's friend relives crash

Lucky escape: Sean Brosnan's friend Robert Laird

A schoolfriend of Pierce Brosnan's son has told of their lucky escape when the truck they were in careered off a mountain road.

Sean Brosnan, 16, suffered multiple fractures and spinal injuries when the vehicle he was in plunged 200 yards down a bush-covered bank on the Malibu coast.

It was initially feared he might be paralysed, but now doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

Relieved: James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan with son Sean

Robert Laird, who suffered a suspected broken collarbone in the crash, said he was just relieved his friend would be able to walk again.

He described the moment when the pick-up truck driven by Sean's cousin, 19-year-old James Hall, lost control.

Robert, 17, said: "We were coming back from up in the hills and James swerved. He lost control and two of the wheels went off the side of the road.

"I thought he was mucking about, but in the end the car slipped and it turned over and over and over. It was a bit of a blur because it happened so fast."

The California Highway Patrol arrested Hall for alleged drink-driving and causing injuries as a result of Saturday's accident.

Bond star Brosnan, who lost his wife, Cassandra Harris, to ovarian cancer in 1991, admitted the medical team has saved his son from "the jaws of death".

Worried

All told, there were five teenagers in the Chevrolet Blazer at the time, but Sean was the most badly injured.

A-level student Robert, who has known Sean for two years, said: "I'm really relieved that he is okay and that he's going to be able to walk.

Good dad: 007 star Pierce Brosnan

"Everyone at school was worried that he wasn't going to be able to walk again and I've had lots of phone calls from friends calling to ask how he was."

The two boys both attend Millfield public school in Somerset.

They had gone to California for their Easter holidays so Sean could see his father and had earlier dined out with him at a Sushi restaurant in Malibu.

Robert's father, Robert Laird senior, praised the actor for the way he handled the incident, saying: "Despite the fact that he is a superstar, he behaved like any other dad."