Trucker’s intentional rollover saved a young man’s life, police say

A trucker’s evasive actions saved the life of a motorist who made a bad decision in Michigan early Monday. 

The accident happened on June 14th at around 7:45 a.m. in Burnside Township, Michigan at the intersection of M-53 and M-90. 

According to The County Press, a milk tanker truck was heading south on M-53 when a four wheeler entered the road from M-90 and turned left in front of the oncoming rig. The trucker immediately swerved left to avoid striking the motorist, sloshing all of the milk to one side of the tanker and causing the rig to roll completely over at least once before the tanker and tractor detached, leaving the cab upside down in a nearby field. 

Miraculously, the trucker was able to crawl out on his own and sustained only minor cuts and bruises. 

“It looks like it rolled together as a unit (tractor and trailer) at least once, before the tractor detached and ended upside down in the field facing west,” Sgt. Jeff Boller, a Michigan State Police Motor Carrier Officer. “He was able to crawl out of the truck and only had minor scrapes and scratches.”

The trucker was transported to a nearby hospital but was later released. Officers say that both the motorist and the trucker are very lucky to have made it out so unscathed, but praise the trucker for sacrificing his rig to save that motorist’s life. 

“The driver (semi-truck) saved that man’s life by what he did. He could’ve been killed when his truck rolled,” said Boller. “They’re both very lucky… And good thing he was hauling milk, and not gasoline or other materials. This could’ve been a lot worse.”

A small amount of milk had to be cleaned up following the crash, and the big rig was so mangled that the remains had to be broken into pieces and hauled away by a large piece of construction equipment. 

The motorist was issued a citation for the incident and his car sustained no damage in the incident.