Posted on 09/06/2006 6:42:27 PM PDT by Samwise
LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Resting in a hospital Wednesday, Indiana State Police Sgt. Rich Kelly said he was in better shape than he thought he was going to be after a crash on Interstate 65 this week.
The crash's witnesses might think so, too.
Kelly had pulled over a tractor-trailer on I-65 in Clinton County and was doing paperwork in his squad car Tuesday afternoon when a second tractor-trailer slammed into the back of the car, crumpling it into the first truck.
To the amazement of witnesses, Kelly -- though hurt and bleeding -- got himself out of the wreckage. He emerged while spitting out a mouthful of glass and trying to clear debris from his eyes.
"I came out of my car, and I could see the look on the people's faces that were outside the car. I could see that they were pretty much shocked that I was coming out," Kelly told 6News' Norman Cox in his room in Lafayette's Home Hospital, which released the trooper hours after the interview.
Kelly would learn after the wreck that he had a broken vertebra along with many cuts and bruises. But in the moments following the crash, he said Wednesday, he didn't know whether he would survive. He was bleeding from his head.
"I thought that there was a high probability" of dying, Kelly said.
Kelly recalled the moments preceding the crash, saying he had no time to react to the approaching truck. He said he was typing on a laptop computer when he heard what turned out to be the tractor-trailer.
A mangled mess was made of Sgt. Rich Kelly's car, making it hard to imagine how he escaped.
"(I asked myself,) 'What is that noise?' And the next thing I know, I mean, it was dashboard and airbag and metal and glass," Kelly said.
Kelly's wife, LeAnn Kelly, said she saw pictures of the wreck after visiting her husband in the hospital. She said she believes his survival was a miracle.
"I've seen a lot of accidents. I've seen a lot of photos. I have never seen anything that bad and seen anyone walk away from it," she said.
Police said the trucker that hit Rich Kelly's car did not obey the state's move-over law, which requires vehicles to slow down and move a lane away to give police officers room to work.
No arrests were immediately made after the crash. Police said an investigation could take weeks to complete.
Rich Kelly, who said he loves his job and doesn't believe he'll have a problem with returning to road patrols, said he isn't sure whether his survival was miraculous.
"There was enough room to live in that car, and for whatever reason, I was given that much room. I would say that probably that it is a slight miracle," he said.
Based on a 2005 story I found through Google I would say that's right.
I recently saw an NYS Crown Vic that had a blow out at 90mph. The front end of the car no longer existed but the trooper walked away. I like my cars big and heavy.
Then if you drive, you know what a fluster cluck these pull overs are. Why do you supposed that truck is jack knifed?
If it happenned like the story states, the front end of that truck would be gone, and so would the cop...
What the...??? There is a SKULL on the dash of that truck!!!
It may be that not every state has the law. They should. Not just to avoid hitting policemen but citizens and EMT, too. I always move over if I can. I certainly slow down, even though folks call slowing down "rubber-necking."
Let's say traffic is rolling along at 65-70. Everyone sees the cop on the side accept a few tail gating four wheelers, and starts moving over. This copper color rig has his turn signal on, and is awaiting his chance to merge left to give the traffic stop it required space.
Just then, one of the impatient tailgating four wheelers whip out in front of the copper color rig missing the rigs bumper by mere inches. Then, the four wheeler sees the disco lights and lays on the brakes, causing the rig to have to slam his on to avoid hitting the four wheeler who just did something incredibly stupid. In locking up the brakes like he did, the rig jack knifes and slides off the road and hits the police car.
Possible?
The reason I ask, this is not a case of some truck plowing into the back of a cop car like the article suggests, and readers bought into here. This rig clearly hits the squad car in a jack knifed position... ...I drove long enough to know that it takes a little bit of a distance to place that rig, jack knifed in the position it is in....notice the front tires are barely in the driving lane...
I think that's the first truck. The 2nd truck slammed into the police car shoving it under the first truck while also knocking the first truck sideways.
God apparently has plans for that trooper here.
When I worked the south Seattle freeway in the 80s, truck drivers would try and get as close to us as possible to blow off our smokey bear hats. They called it "dusting" a bear. It was a nationwide activity, and I recall a lieutenant back east getting killed by a truck driver trying to "dust" him.
Or the driver fell asleep, or he was swerving to avoid a four wheeler that cut him off, or the driver was stoned/drunk, or playing with his radio or computer, ad infinitum ad nauseum.
That is a night time occurrence. We called it "mothing into the lights".
"I'd call that a miracle."
Sort of along the lines of this one...
http://www.amazon.com/90-Minutes-Heaven-Story-Death/dp/0800759494/sr=1-1/qid=1157597229/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5269193-0744753?ie=UTF8&s=books
I'm as much a skeptic as anyone has an "out of body" experience...
but the story of how this guy actually lived and is walking today is
pretty amazing.
I can't see it like that . If it happenned the way you say, the front end on the rig is plastic. The Tractor weighs about 10,000 lbs. There would surely be at least a scratch on the rigs bumper...
I want to try and pit a semi.
Won't work. Trucks are too big to be pitted by a car.
You're right that's the 2nd truck and in the slide show you can see some damage to the truck bumper, but amazingly dang little.
He had to have already been in a slide when he hit and only clipped the front right bumper and the side of the cab.
**This rig clearly hits the squad car in a jack knifed position...**
I think you are right. The front of the average big rig is designed display lights, push air, and not much more. Weight is the issue in their construction. The lighter the truck, the more payload they can legally haul. The KW T600 in the pic is completely intact in front.
It probably slid sidways into the cruiser, pushing it under the trailer of the first rig. Then, momentum took over, the pulled over rig still rolling foward after getting kicked in the rear, away from the car and jack-knifed rig.
And yes, the unwillingness of many fourwheelers to yield to a rig trying to change lanes is a danger that most don't recognize.
"God is the only explanation..."
You said IT, R.
Its a crown victoria made here in st. thomas ontario canada. we received an email thanking our company for such a safe car. the police chief sent it personally saying it's the best cop car out there.
also our cars now come with a fire suspression unit in the rear that puts out the fire if it were to get rear-ended making our car even more indestructable
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