Florida man jumps off of highway overpass to avoid getting hit by a semi-truck
A Florida man made an astonishing leap from a highway overpass. However, he wasn’t trying to harm himself. No, it was a desperate attempt to avoid being struck by an oncoming semi-truck after a six-car highway crash threatened his life.
A Florida man from Tallahassee is in critical condition after jumping off a highway overpass to save himself from a semi-truck
It sounds like something from an action film. A semi-truck barreling toward a man on a highway overpass forces him to jump for his life. However, this wasn’t the plot of a crime drama or a guns-blazing action flick. This was a Florida man’s attempt to escape the destructive path of a semi-truck and trailer.
A 44-year-old man driving a Toyota Corolla lost control and crashed at around 6:40 a.m. on Interstate 10 in Gadsden County. A second vehicle, unable to avoid the crash ahead, slammed into the Toyota. Moments later, a 39-year-old Florida man and the husband of the second vehicle’s driver pulled up to the wreck in his work truck.
However, the man had just exited his truck when he saw a semi-truck and trailer speeding toward him. Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) reports that the man jumped over the side barrier of the overpass to avoid the oncoming truck. FHP says that he “jumped over the bridge rail and fell 40-plus feet to the ground.” He opted to jump after realizing that the semi wasn’t going to stop in time.
The first responders used a basket stretcher to extract the critically injured Florida man from the ground below. A basket stretcher, not unlike a sked stretcher, is useful for technical and high-angle rescues. The stretcher stabilizes the patient for transport by lifting equipment on an aerial, a crane, a winch, or a helicopter. In this case, firefighters used a pulley system affixed to an apparatus aerial to hoist the injured man to safety.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Tallahassee heavy rescue firefighters to extract the man. First responders used “their outstanding high-angle rescue abilities,” to guide the man off the railroad tracks below. However, the multiple-crash event did prompt authorities to close the eastbound highway traffic for six hours, per the Tallahassee Democrat.
