‘Millimeter or 2 away from death’: Man on dirt bike clotheslined by barbed wire along popular trail

OCALA, Fla. — It was a close call for Scott Johnson while riding his dirt bike in Ocala National Forest earlier this month.

He said he was clotheslined off his dirt bike.

“I fully expected to look up and see a vine,” Johnson said.

But it was barbed wire, “tied from tree to tree” and strung at neck height.

READ: Petition pleads with courts to reconsider truck driver’s 110-year sentence for crash

“It was a millimeter or two away from death, so I do consider myself very lucky,” Johnson said.

In cellphone video, Johnson called it “evil, straight evil.”

“I got emotional when I started thinking about the possibility of not having the chance to say goodbye to my wife, that if I bled out on that trail,” Scott Johnson told Channel 9.

Johnson said he was only going around 15 mph on a trail deep in the woods. He fears what would have happened if he was going any faster.

READ: Missionaries walked miles to escape kidnappers in Haiti

“We were Just doing about 45-50 miles an hour minutes before that,” he said. “Pretty sure I wouldn’t be here if that was something like that.”

He reported the incident to law enforcement and also took to social media to warn others.

“This could be someone else’s child,” Johnson said. “We have fathers who take their 13-year-old kids out on these bikes on these trails.”

READ: Daytona Truck Meet won’t return to Daytona Beach, organizers say

Johnson said it was dangerous and deliberate.

“There’s no intent for that other than to try to kill somebody,” he said. “So whoever did this is evil. And if you’re watching, you’re a coward.”

Despite that close call, Johnson said he won’t hesitate to get back on his bike.

UPDATE: Titusville police locate missing marathon runner

Police 'The Shopping Cart Killer' arrested, responsible for deaths of four women (NCD)

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.