SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — Video shows the driver of a truck whose cab was left hanging off the side of Interstate 5 in the Mission Hills neighborhood lowering himself out of the wreckage and dropping onto a blanket held by good Samaritans and a police officer, after a crash with a sedan on October 20.
The crash happened around 10 a.m. on northbound I-5 near Washington Street. A sedan and a truck collided, sending the truck over the side of the freeway. The cab was left partially detached from the box and dangling over the freeway overhang between the northbound and southbound lanes. San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesperson Candace Hadley said the cab was on fire when firefighters arrived. Fuel spilled across the roadway and the center divide was severely damaged.
In the video, the driver throws some items out of the dangling cab, then lowers himself down with his legs swinging. A group of bystanders and one police officer stretch a blanket beneath him. He drops onto the blanket and lands safely on the ground.
A CHP spokesperson said the driver was ejected into the lanes and a passenger was helped out of the window. Both men refused medical care. Reports differ on the sequence, and the cause of the crash is not clear. All four people in the sedan were taken to the hospital.
The crash caused severe delays in both directions. Four lanes of northbound I-5 and two lanes of southbound I-5 were closed for hours, with traffic diverted to Sassafras Street.
San Diego Fire-Rescue and NBC San Diego described the vehicle as a box truck, while other reports called it a semi truck.
📸 Video courtesy of local media. Image(s) used under fair use for news reporting.
