Father and son rescued from semi-truck dangling over OKC bridge
A semi-truck hangs over an Interstate 44 bridge in Oklahoma City
By Alexandria Williams
Click here for updates on this story
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (KOCO) — Helmet camera video shows an up-close look at the terrifying moments a truck driver and his son hung over an Interstate 44 bridge over the weekend in Oklahoma City.
Part of Interstate 44 was closed for hours Sunday after a tractor-trailer crashed and hung over the side of the bridge over Pennsylvania Avenue. Part of the bridge is still exposed because of the crash.
Firefighters told KOCO 5 that the incident shows how the rainy weather conditions can be deadly on the road if drivers aren’t careful.
“The driver, he did tell us that somebody had cut him off. And with the roadways yesterday, the rainfall, it didn’t take much for this large vehicle to lose control,” Scott Douglas, with the Oklahoma City Fire Department, said.
The cab dangled over the bridge as fire crews rushed to the scene around 7 a.m. Sunday. Two victims were trapped inside.
Oklahoma City Fire Department officials said their firefighters are trained to act quickly during incidents like this, but the rain caused extra challenges.
“We just had to be more cautious and more slow with the rainfall because the ladder they were walking on to evacuate the semi was slick, too,” Douglas said. “So, we took extra time with the footing being a little bit in case our footing slipped. We just took extra time extricating these victims yesterday.”
They said the driver and his son climbed out of the semitrailer and onto the engine’s ladder safely and with no injuries.
First responders urge drivers to drive slower and be more cautious when driving in this rainy weather, as most of their recent calls have dealt with vehicle collisions due to the rain.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
