Trucker pinned by own load of steel pipes manages to call 911

A truck driver managed to call 911 himself after his load of steel pierced his truck cab and pinned him to the ceiling. 

The accident happened at about 7 a.m. in Monroe County, Michigan on Interstate 75 where it splits into 275. 

According to WXYZ Detroit, the incident did not involve any other vehicles, but the driver hit the brakes and ended up partially on the shoulder of the highway with the load of steel bars inside of his cab. The steel pushed his seat forward and pinned him to the ceiling, but the driver was still able to contact 911. 

“I’m in a crash. I crashed my semi. I crashed my semi!” he reportedly said to the 911 dispatcher. 

A passing trucker in his personal vehicle, Terry Jamieson, noticed something wasn’t right with the truck on the side of the road, and was the only passerby to call 911. 

“As I drove by, I yelled out my window at him, ‘Hey man, are you OK?’ As I got closer, I could see that his steel bars that he’s hauling got shoved through which means he, at one point, had slammed on his brakes so hard that his load broke loose,” he said.

“I’ve personally hauled that. I did two years of hauling steel. That is a scary situation knowing that those back there because.. nothing’s gonna stop them.”

The trapped driver answered Jamieson and moved his arm around when he yelled into the cab, and the two waited for emergency crews as dispatch advised the trapped trucker “Try not to think about it. I know it’s difficult to do so, but I don’t want you to move. I don’t want you to cause more pain to yourself, ok?”

The truck driver was then cut free from the truck cab and flown to St. Joe Hospital with serious injuries. He is expected to survive. 

The cause of the crash is not clear, but it may have started with an earlier fatal motorcycle accident that slowed traffic, causing the driver to hit the brakes, officials say.