The Truck

I was one of the few to watch this from the other side of the road on Tuesday. I normally head out of town at 5:00pm. Tuesday was a little different. I had gone to meet a client and I was on my way back into town. Read on. But I will add more later.


The Article
(Columbia) August 25, 2004 - In what rescue workers are calling "miraculous," a 36-year-old Irmo man sustained only minor injuries after the concrete truck he was driving ran off an Interstate 126 bridge Tuesday night and landed in the Broad River and on the rocks below.
Investigators are meeting Wednesday to figure out what happened.
Pieces of the guardrail on the I-126 bridge are still missing. A Department of Transportation spokesperson says they do not know when the guardrails will be repaired, but the DOT says the bridge is safe to drive on and all lanes of traffic are open.
In a potentially dangerous rescue in involving some 21 Columbia Firefighters, Vann Gibson was hauled up and rushed to Palmetto Richland Hospital. He is expected to be released from the hospital sometime Wednesday.
The rescue crews rappelled off the bridge over the Broad River. Captain David Anderson says, "We went down to help secure the victim in a store basket. Once we got him secure, we were able to raise him up to the bridge to the EMS units."
Captain Anderson was down below in the riverbed as Gibson was lifted to safety, "It's amazing he survived. It's a blessing. It just wasn't his day. It's just a miracle. There's nothing else you can say about it. It's just a miracle he survived that wreck."
Sgt. Pete Pederson is with the Columbia Police Department unit that investigates serious crashes and fatalities, "They said that truck was like, if I remember right, was 45,000 - 30 to 45,000 pounds empty, traveling at 55-60 miles per hour, which is the speed limit out here. There's a lot of force there when it impacts."
Pederson hopes to fill out the puzzle with information from Gibson, "We'd like to know what he has to say about what occurred. We haven't really had a chance to get a statement from the young man yet, so it will probably take a couple days. I figure he's probably pretty shaken up right about now."
Emergency calls swamped the Columbia-Richland Emergency 911 Center such as, "It's a dump truck. I don't know if he's dead or not, but if he's not, I'm surprised.
911 Center Director Kimberly Gathers says they received 40 calls in a matter of minutes, "Our staff on yesterday, they were able to receive and process that call with in 60 seconds."
Sgt. Pederson says the truck crossed several lanes on a crowded interstate, yet somehow missing that traffic, "We were somewhat amazed that there were no other vehicles involved with the lanes crossed."
The investigation is ongoing, but Pederson says speed doesn't appear to be a factor, nor does the health of the driver.
Two massive cranes were brought in and mounted on the eastbound lane of the highway to lift the concrete mixer truck from the river bottom. On the riverbed crews pumped out the gasoline from the truck before it was pulled up.
Another man who jumped into the river to try to help Gibson almost ended not making it out. Keheli Cohen ended up in the hospital, too, on Tuesday night, but doctors say he's fine.
Reporting by Kara Gormley, Heather Brown and