Posted on 07/15/2016 7:56:00 AM PDT by Red Badger
BERLIN (AFP) -
A German journalist who witnessed the Nice attack said he saw a motorcyclist chase the killer truck and try to enter the cabin but fall and end up under the wheels.
"I stood on the balcony, right on the Promenade des Anglais, and saw how people celebrated there, and how suddenly a truck drove through the crowd," Richard Gutjahr, 42, who shot smartphone video footage of the bloody Bastille Day rampage, told AFP on Friday.
"Surprisingly, he drove very slowly, not fast, he drove slowly and he was chased by a motorcyclist," recounted Gutjahr by telephone.
"The motorcyclist attempted to overtake the truck and even tried to open the driver's door, but he fell and ended up under the wheels of the truck."
Gutjahr, a freelance journalist, said he also saw two police officers open fire on the truck.
"Then the driver stepped on the accelerator and the truck sped up, accelerated and drove in a zig-zag course into the crowd.
"In the next 15 to 20 seconds there were shots from several guns. I don't know who shot at whom."
After that, "the panicked crowd ran in all directions. Those who could save themselves ran into the hotels, or sought security in the hotel entrances," he said.
"Right afterwards I personally saw 12 dead bodies, and it was already clear there would be more."
“...most tires now are “run flats” and can do at least 50 miles with a hole in them”
I get my info from watching police chases on tv...but those stop sticks still seem to work pretty well.
Possible I guess that this motorcyclist got hit by police gunfire, also trying to stop the truck driver.
Yes. Once this story is verified, award him the Legion of Honor. And do it PDQ.
Not only do I honor and mourn this great man, I hope he serves as a beacon for others.
We can learn something from his self-sacrifice.
This guy meets the definition of hero — so often we misapply the definition, using it to loosely describe some talented athlete. This man was a real hero, someone who, against long odds, put himself in imminent mortal danger, without regard for his own safety, in order to protect others from harm.
They just opened a mosque in Nice run by a radical Islamist (a redundant term), after a long legal battle to prevent it from opening was lost.
I say close the mosque, and reopen it after it’s made into a shrine for this deceased motorcyclist, and other heroes of the fight.
Damn trucks.
France should just ban them.
Stop sticks hit all 4 tires, also they “shed” hollow spikes, which helps get the air out faster. And even with those you see a lot of those chases continue on for quite a while after, sometimes even shredding the tires off and running on rims.
Where the eternal flame will forever fry bacon............................
That motorcyclist did not “do nothing”. He sacrificed his life in an attempt to save others.
...
It’s possible he did save lives. Slowing down the Muslim may have prevented him from killing more than he did.
It would be hard to hit the tires without risking hitting other people.
it was reported elsewhere the police did shoot the tires
There’s always one out there when the shtf, always, everywhere, seldom do we even learn of them or their names.
Nonetheless, always one!
Thank God!
Dick.G
*****
Shooting the tires with a normal caliber round only works in the movies. In the real world, it just doesn’t work (involves physics, etc). Not to mention that even if you punctured the tire, the truck would still keep on moving forward, even with bad tires. The only way you could stop the truck would be to block it, or kill the driver and hope the truck veers away from the crowd. Not an easy threat to stop, given the momentum involved.
We have FReepers who despise motorcyclists.
Prayers for the man and his family. And all who have suffered from this.
how could the truck driver be zig zagging, selecting people (children and families) to run down, and shooting them at the same time?
“lone wolf”
with a back of truck full of weapons
yeah
Fox reports the truck was detained momentarily but the driver claimed he was delivering ice cream, so it was allowed to pass into the pedestrian-only area.
Monumental fail. The checkpoint checkers should have checked. This was not a refrigerated truck; the cargo was NOT ice cream.
I hope our security people will take note.
For future reference - a good yank on a muzzie beard in the right direction will snap their neck
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