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Man in wheelchair takes ride on semi's grill
Wood TV ^ | June 7, 2007 02:30 PM MDT

Posted on 06/07/2007 2:12:49 PM PDT by Pete-R-Bilt

Man in wheelchair takes ride on semi's grill

Updated: June 7, 2007 02:30 PM MDT

Pictures are courtesy State Police Trooper Mark Kassuba
Pictures are courtesy State Police Trooper Mark Kassuba

Listen to the 911 calls about the wheelchair attached to the semi truck

PAW PAW -- The Michigan State Police Paw Paw Post and Van Buren County Central Dispatch began receiving strange reports of a man in a wheelchair being pushed by a semi truck on Wednesday afternoon.

The truck collided with wheelchair as the vehicle was leaving a gas station and 22-year-old Ben Carpenter of Alamo was crossing the road. The wheelchair's handles became lodged in the front grill of the truck. The unwitting truck driver then proceeded to travel west on Red Arrow Highway at speeds of approximately 50 mph.

Police initially thought the report might have been a prank until they started receiving more reports of the situation.

The truck traveled for an estimated four miles unknowingly pushing the man in the wheelchair. The driver then pulled into the Ralph Moyle Trucking Company, which owned the truck, with wheelchair and Carpenter still attached. When troopers arrived, they discovered Carpenter in the wheelchair was unharmed and unfazed by the incident.

Police approached the driver and advised him of the man in the wheelchair. The driver did not believe them until he stepped out of the truck and saw Carpenter still sitting in the chair.

Carpenter said, "It was quite a ride."

One trooper on the scene said, "You could work another 90 years in law enforcement and never see something like this."

Everybody said they are just glad no one was injured.

One day after his harrowing ride, Carpenter is telling the story he will never forget. He says he wasn't convinced he was going to make it before the smoking tires on the motorized wheelchair finally gave out.

"I was probably thinking that this is going to keep going and not stop anywhere, 50 or 60 miles somewhere," he told 24 Hour News 8. "What if I end up in South Haven? I mean, I would have been dead way before that."



TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: omg; truck; weee; wheelchair
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1 posted on 06/07/2007 2:12:52 PM PDT by Pete-R-Bilt
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To: glock rocks; B4Ranch; NormsRevenge; WestCoastGal; NYTexan; steveegg; SouthTexas

I love dumb truckdriver tricks

BOINK!


2 posted on 06/07/2007 2:14:43 PM PDT by Pete-R-Bilt ( The key to happiness... excess in moderation.)
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

Posted: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1846442/posts


3 posted on 06/07/2007 2:15:10 PM PDT by Snoopers-868th
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

With regenerative braking on that thing he could have gotten a free charge on the battery!


4 posted on 06/07/2007 2:16:15 PM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
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To: tubebender

I couldn’t not ping you to something like this!


5 posted on 06/07/2007 2:16:25 PM PDT by Pete-R-Bilt ( The key to happiness... excess in moderation.)
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

Wow!

He’s a Pepper!


6 posted on 06/07/2007 2:16:27 PM PDT by Tenacious 1 (No to nitwit jesters with a predisposition of self importance and unqualified political opinions!)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: Pete-R-Bilt
Looks like Dr Pepper can take advantage of this in advertising.
8 posted on 06/07/2007 2:16:59 PM PDT by FoxInSocks
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

I heard about this on the radio earlier, unbelievable! Thank goodness that guy wasn’t hurt.


9 posted on 06/07/2007 2:18:05 PM PDT by fishergirl (My warrior, my soldier, my hero - my son. God bless our troops!)
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

He should have raised his hands so the driver could see them over the hood. Then again, he would have looked like a kid on a coaster to other motorists, just enjoying the thrill.

Did anyone ask what bugs taste like?


10 posted on 06/07/2007 2:18:09 PM PDT by Tenacious 1 (No to nitwit jesters with a predisposition of self importance and unqualified political opinions!)
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To: Snoopers-868th

sheesh, I gotta get a wireless laptop for the truck...


11 posted on 06/07/2007 2:18:25 PM PDT by Pete-R-Bilt ( The key to happiness... excess in moderation.)
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

WOW! Praise God he is safe! Lucky fella!


12 posted on 06/07/2007 2:18:30 PM PDT by ibheath (I liked America better when the threats to our freedom came exclusively from abroad.)
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

I think the guy hooked his chair on the grill on purpose.

WHEEEEEEE!!!


13 posted on 06/07/2007 2:19:10 PM PDT by Grig
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To: FoxInSocks

I beat you buy 30 seconds.


14 posted on 06/07/2007 2:19:14 PM PDT by Tenacious 1 (No to nitwit jesters with a predisposition of self importance and unqualified political opinions!)
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To: FoxInSocks
I never met a grill like you!
15 posted on 06/07/2007 2:19:19 PM PDT by efs111 (Hasta La Vista, Baby!)
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

Un-believable bump.


16 posted on 06/07/2007 2:19:25 PM PDT by Dinah Lord (fighting the Islamofascist Jihad - one keystroke at a time...)
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

Lucky he wasn’t in a manual wheelchair!


17 posted on 06/07/2007 2:24:46 PM PDT by airborne (Airborne - Ranger - Vietnam veteran! Duncan Hunter for President!)
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: Pete-R-Bilt
i'm almost afraid to post this.

June 7, 2007, 12:25AM
Motorcyclist looks for good Samaritan trucker

Jeff Blessing's guardian angel drives an 18-wheeler.

On May 25, an unidentified trucker used his rig to shield the Dickinson man from traffic after he wiped out on his motorcycle in the northbound lanes of Interstate 45 near NASA Parkway.

"I was laying in the middle of the freeway taking a nap," said Blessing, referring to the 10:20 a.m. accident in which he struck a vehicle that had slowed or swerved after being hit by a loose tire from another vehicle.

Police said the trucker saw Blessing and maneuvered to block two lanes.

"I believe the trucker did save the guy's life," said Webster police officer Mark Rawls.

But the man, Rawls said, "wasn't directly involved, and he wasn't a witness to the accident so he was able to leave. I ... wasn't able to get his name before he left."

Now Blessing, 24, wants to find the trucker "so we can tell him how grateful we are. I'm just so thankful I got to come home again and see my wife and my little boys."

Blessing was on his way to work at an insurance firm near FM 290 and Loop 610 when the wreck occurred. He remembers only that he was flown to a hospital, and his wife, Dorothy, was called to let her know he wasn't seriously hurt.

Though his motorcycle was destroyed, Blessing was wearing a helmet and leather jacket, which helped limit his injuries to a concussion, sprained shoulders and "road rash."

Rawls said he talked to the trucker briefly: "I told him he really did a good deed because we definitely would have been working a fatality accident if he hadn't done what he did."

kevin.moran@chron.com

19 posted on 06/07/2007 2:29:04 PM PDT by Pete-R-Bilt ( The key to happiness... excess in moderation.)
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To: Pete-R-Bilt

One super lucky mofo.


20 posted on 06/07/2007 2:29:06 PM PDT by stevio ((NRA))
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