Wheelchair stuck to a semi...you can't make this up...

Published on June 7, 2007 By jdkeepsmiling In Current Events

In Grand Rapids, Michigan today, a man in a wheelchair got stuck to the grill of a semi-truck, and was driven 2-3 miles down the highway at 50mph. I am not making this up. Now, I don't want everyone to think I am making fun of people in a wheelchair, that would be incorrect, I am really just truly confused. Here is the link to the article in the Detroit Free Press.

Apparently the man was crossing an intersection when the truck driver got the wheelchair lodged into his grill. He apparently did not notice this. Now call me stupid, but five hundred pounds impacting your grill might cause me to take notice. I mean does that mean you can strike a deer in a truck and not even know it?? I am pretty sure an old Asian lady in a Honda Civic weighs about 500 pounds. That seems highly unlikely that he would not notice something. Anyway, the truck proceeded to go 3 miles at 50 MPH before a police officer pulled the truck over and alerted the driver. The man was freed from the grill shaken, but otherwise unharmed.

My personal favorite quote from the article is someone calling 911. They told the police dispatcher "A semi-truck just came by and he does not know it but he has a gentleman on the front of his truck that's in a wheelchair and he's pushing him down the road." That is an incredibly eloquent way of freaking out, which is what I would have had I seen this happing on my local freeway.

My last question is what kind of tires the guy had on this wheelchair. Apparently they were able to handle three miles of 50 MPH. Must have been some heavy duty rubber on those things. I guess wheelchairs are better built then I thought. Apparently the chair, which was motorized, still worked after being untangled from the grill. If I were the manufacturer of that model you can bet this claim would be in my next advertising campaign: "Tough enough to take on a MAC Truck." I guess I'll just have to file this away under the heading "will never happen again in my lifetime."

Later---JD

Comments

Locamama

on Jun 07, 2007

That poor man in the wheelchair. I bet he saw his life flash before his eyes. It's amazing that he was unhurt. What are the chances of somthing like this happening?

MasonM

on Jun 07, 2007

Now call me stupid, but five hundred pounds impacting your grill might cause me to take notice.

Had he been rolling at the time yes, he would have noticed the impact, but starting from a dead stop no he wouldn't notice it at all. Obviously the guy in the wheel chair was really close to the grill at the time the truck started rolling. 500lbs is nothing at all to a big rig.

The truck driver failed to pay attention to his surroundings or he would have known a person in a wheelchair was crossing the street and wasn't back in view. One should always watch for people crossing as there is a very large blind spot directly in front of the truck.

Dr Guy

on Jun 08, 2007

From Foxnews

jennifer1

on Jun 08, 2007

If I were the manufacturer of that model you can bet this claim would be in my next advertising campaign: "Tough enough to take on a MAC Truck."

Yes it would be a good one.

This bloke must have peed himself gunning along at 50mph.

Poison5

on Jun 08, 2007

wowwee

KarmaGirl

on Jun 09, 2007

I saw this on the local news. The 911 call was the best part. The lady was really calm and sounded like it was something you would see every day.

The wheelchair that he was is was heavy duty, which is the only reason that it made it that far. However, on the news, it did show the tires. The outer rubber was completely gone and the tires were in pieces.

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