Truck driven by James Christian dangles from Staten Island Expressway after plunging off it onto South Ave., its wheels striking car driven by Jenetta Christophersen.
Posted on 09/19/2007 2:45:59 AM PDT by Stoat
Wednesday, September 19th 2007, 4:00 AM
Truck driven by James Christian dangles from Staten Island Expressway after plunging off it onto South Ave., its wheels striking car driven by Jenetta Christophersen.
Jenetta Christophersen, who was traveling with her granddaughter, Kayla, escaped injury.
"I can't believe I'm alive," said Jenetta Christophersen, 61, who was driving along South Ave. with her 1-year-old granddaughter, Kayla McGrath, strapped in a car seat behind her.
The tractor-trailer was heading west on the Staten Island Expressway about 12:30 p.m. when the driver lost control above South Ave. and the truck vaulted off the highway, police said.
Down below on South Ave., Christophersen heard a loud noise and instinctively slammed on her brakes. As she came to a halt, the big rig plunged onto the four-lane road.
"I see the truck coming down on me. If I kept going, he would have ended up on top of my car," she said.
The truck's giant tires hit the hood of her car, but she and Kayla were not injured. The big rig's cab was destroyed and the rear of the trailer hung precariously from the overpass.
Christophersen said she whisked Kayla to safety after seeing fuel spill out of the truck's crushed gas tank.
"I heard screaming, 'Help me! Help me!'" she said.
The cries were coming from the truck driver, James Christian of Fletcher, N.C., who was pulled to safety by firefighters. Christian broke several bones and was in stable condition at Richmond University Medical Center last night.
FDNY Battalion Chief Michael Seminella said the truck had dropped off rolls of paper in Brooklyn and was empty when it plunged off the highway. He was amazed no one else was hurt.
"This is usually a very busy avenue," he said. "It was a godsend."
Dion Serrano, 31, of Staten Island, was driving a van along South Ave. when he saw the truck launch off the highway.
"The truck was flying off the highway directly to my left," he said. To avoid the trailer, he swerved onto the sidewalk and crashed into a pole.
Serrano's car tires exploded and one of her vehicle's windows broke. An SUV also was damaged.
The crash knotted traffic for several hours as haz-mat teams cleaned the diesel fuel off the pavement.
Christophersen called her daughter Kimberly McGrath, 27, from the crash scene and told her Kayla was fine and "not to panic."
"Then, she goes on to say, 'A truck fell on us,'" McGrath said. "I said, 'What? What do you mean?'"
McGrath arrived a short time later and began crying when she saw the truck's wheels leaning against her mom's car.
"How did they survive that?" McGrath said later. "You can't help but think, 'What if?' It's overwhelming."
Christophersen believes her husband, Thomas, who died in 2003, protected her and Kayla.
"My husband up in the heavens was protecting us," she said. "He stopped the car."
Christophersen believes her husband, Thomas, who died in 2003, protected her and Kayla.
"My husband up in the heavens was protecting us," she said. "He stopped the car."
You never know when you will need a Guardian Angel :-)
Ping :-)
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