Man in wheelchair calls semi-truck trip 'quite a ride'

[Roxanne Appleby]

Thursday, June 07, 2007
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070607/UPDATE/706070460
Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f224/spitfiregriffin/wheelchairsemiride.jpg

In an incident that stunned police, a 21-year-old man did not suffer an injury after his wheelchair was lodged in the grill of a tractor-trailer truck and pushed for about four miles before he was discovered stuck on the truck's front end.

The truck about 4 p.m. Wednesday was pulling out of a gas station parking lot on Red Arrow Highway as the man was passing in front of the truck, Michigan State Police with the Paw Paw Post said.

The handles on the back of the wheelchair became lodged in the truck's grill, without the driver knowing it, said Trooper Kelley Whiting.

After traveling about four miles, and at speeds of 50 mph, the truck pulled into the Ralph Moyle Trucking Co., where the man was discovered stuck in the truck's grill. The driver refused to believe there was a man in a wheelchair stuck in his truck's front end until he saw it himself, troopers said.

The truck is owned by the company. Officials this morning were unavailable for comment.

Numerous motorists who saw the incident called Van Buren County central dispatchers, Whiting said.

"You are not going to believe this, there is a semi-truck pushing a guy in a wheelchair on Red Arrow Highway!" an unidentified caller is quoted as saying in a State Police press release.

Troopers would not identify the driver or the man in the wheelchair, who seemed to take the incident in stride.

"It was quite a ride," troopers said he told them.

Dispatch officials this morning were not available for comment.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Alls well that ends well?

 

[impressive]

My son would LOVE it.

 

[Dar~]

I would think it would be very thrilling for a lot of children and many handicapped adults. People tend to overlook the disabled when they think of going high speeds or doing exciting things (like carnival rides) I bet he had a ball after the initial shock of being taken 50 miles out of the way wore off.

 

[marifree]

I would think it would be very thrilling for a lot of children and many handicapped adults. People tend to overlook the disabled when they think of going high speeds or doing exciting things (like carnival rides) I bet he had a ball after the initial shock of being taken 50 miles out of the way wore off.

I'll stick with roller coasters....
Good thing the chair held up to the speed.

 

[Boxlicker101]

That driver was certainly not to see the man in front of him. They are both lucky, hopefully, that it turned out like it did. The guy in the chair could have been just crushed.

 

[3113]

The company that made his wheelchair now have one heck of an ad they can use to sell more of them.

Hell. If, heaven forfend, I ever need a chair, they'll be the first ones I go to!

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

I would think it would be very thrilling for a lot of children and many handicapped adults. People tend to overlook the disabled when they think of going high speeds or doing exciting things (like carnival rides) I bet he had a ball after the initial shock of being taken 50 miles out of the way wore off.

Except for the terror of knowing that one bad bump and under the wheels he goes. But - your general point is well taken. "Vestibular stimulation."

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Wheelchair-bound man thought he'd die on wild semi ride
June 7, 2007

By AMBER HUNT

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Ben Carpenter is used to being on wheels. Just not in this way.

Ben, 21, was taken for a two-mile ride down a highway when his wheelchair got stuck in the grille of a semi-truck as he crossed an intersection in Paw Paw.

The truck driver had no idea he was pushing the man down the street Wednesday afternoon until he turned in to the lot of his business and was stopped by an undercover police officer who spotted him on the highway.

"I tried to yell for help but no one could hear me," said Ben, of Kalamazoo, who has debilitating muscular dystrophy that put him in a wheelchair 7 1/2 years ago.

The truck, he said, was going 50 mph. Ben always straps himself into the chair, so he felt secure he wouldn't fall out. But he was pretty sure he was going to die.

"I didn't know how far he was going," Ben said. "I think people were looking at me."

They were indeed. Police got several 911 calls from drivers who spotted the strange scene on the highway.

In a perplexed and deliberate voice, one caller said: "A semi-truck just came by and he does not know it but he has a gentleman on the front of his truck that's in a wheelchair and he's pushing him down the road."

Ben had been out with an aide taking a ride along a wheelchair-accessible park in Paw Paw. He crossed Red Arrow Highway legally, his father Don said, but the light turned green before he got across.

The 18-wheel semi-truck slowly took off, nudging the wheelchair parallel to the grille, where the chair's handgrips slipped between the slats and got stuck. Its wheels dragged along the highway, leaving skid marks.

John Moyle, co-owner of the trucking company Ralph Moyle Inc., said the truck driver was too high in his rig to see Ben crossing the street. The driver was headed to RMI Warehouse down the road.

"He was shaken, obviously," Moyle said. He wouldn't identify the trucker, who he said has worked for the company for several years. Ralph Moyle owners are meeting tomorrow to discuss the incident.

Ben's mother, Joyce, had a start when she heard the news.

"I was at work when it happened," she said. "A coworker came to the door and said you have to come here right now. When we got in the hallway, she told me my son had been hit by a semi."

The next words were that Ben was OK, but Joyce already was panicked.

"Just hearing your son's been hit by a semi ... That's enough," she said.

Joyce is a nurse at Bronson Methodist Hospital, where Ben was taken after the ride to be checked out. He wasn't even scratched.

Don, Ben's father, couldn't help but laugh -- after he learned his boy was OK, of course.

"What else can you do?" he said. "It's hard to imagine this happening and to have it come out alright."

Ben's aide wasn't quite as amused. She breathlessly screamed for help to a 911 dispatcher. Don said she's relieved but still shaken.

Not only did Ben survive, but so did his wheelchair. The foam covers on the hand grips are worn in places, a bracket's askew and there's a dent in an arm rest, but the black-and-yellow motorized chair -- which weighs 500 pounds when Ben's in it -- is otherwise OK.

That is, except for the tires. They were replaced Thursday morning, in time for Ben to be able to keep his plans to go to a muscular dystrophy camp in Augusta, Mich., on Sunday.

The bizarre tale has drawn international attention. The family was interviewed by dozens of media outlets and fielded calls from CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and even a newspaper in Norway.

Ben usually is shy, but his parents said he's been surprisingly open with reporters.

"It's kind of neat," Ben said. "Maybe the president will call. That'd be cool."

By Thursday afternoon, the family needed a break from the attention. They left home, away from the ringing telephone and reporters' knocks at the door.

Plus, Don said, Ben wanted to check out those skid marks.

"He thinks they're pretty neat."

 

[S-Des]

Alls well that ends well?

Except you suck...you should have heard the names I called you when Kiten told me about your thread. I had just told her I couldn't wait to get home and put this up myself. I heard about it on the news while I was at work.

Brat.

The company that made his wheelchair now have one heck of an ad they can use to sell more of them.

Hell. If, heaven forfend, I ever need a chair, they'll be the first ones I go to!

That is a really good idea. I'd be surprised if we didn't see an ad someday (maybe Ben could get an endorsement deal...a very cool ending to something that could have been really tragic).

 

[scheherazade_79]

Can you imagine how cool it would have been to bomb up the motorway at around 100, attached to the front of the truck?

That would have to be the biggest rush ever!

 

[Just-Legal]

Can you imagine how cool it would have been to bomb up the motorway at around 100, attached to the front of the truck?

That would have to be the biggest rush ever!

Aye!

I was having a "do I laugh or not? Too late, *snerk*" moment when I read it...

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Sorry Des and JL - it never occurred to me!

BTW - those "several motorists called 911" - WTF, why the hell didn't they get in front of that truck and stop it? I know it all depends on the exact circumstances as to whether that was practical, but still . . . you see a person who in in imminent danger of a horrible death and you do more than just "call 911" if you're in a position to potentially make a difference!

 

[snake307]

You might think before you act.

Sorry Des and JL - it never occurred to me!

BTW - those "several motorists called 911" - WTF, why the hell didn't they get in front of that truck and stop it? I know it all depends on the exact circumstances as to whether that was practical, but still . . . you see a person who in in imminent danger of a horrible death and you do more than just "call 911" if you're in a position to potentially make a difference!

You may want to take a moment and assess the situation before you jump in to help. There are thousands of things that can go wrong if a mistake is made, and you don't have to be the one making the mistake.

Let's say you pull in front of the truck, and begin braking to slow down. You have to assume in that situation, the driver may be impared, because HOW the wheelchair man got there in the first place is a big question. If the driver is sleepy, or not paying attention, or a hundred other things, your pulling in front and trying to stop him may result in the wheelchair man getting squashed between your two vehicles. Also, if the truck driver hits the brakes hard, it's possible the wheelchair man could get disloged, and end up under the truck.

One of the first rules of trying to help someone is don't make the situation any worse.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

You may want to take a moment and assess the situation before you jump in to help. There are thousands of things that can go wrong if a mistake is made, and you don't have to be the one making the mistake.

Let's say you pull in front of the truck, and begin braking to slow down. You have to assume in that situation, the driver may be impared, because HOW the wheelchair man got there in the first place is a big question. If the driver is sleepy, or not paying attention, or a hundred other things, your pulling in front and trying to stop him may result in the wheelchair man getting squashed between your two vehicles. Also, if the truck driver hits the brakes hard, it's possible the wheelchair man could get disloged, and end up under the truck.

One of the first rules of trying to help someone is don't make the situation any worse.

Absolutely correct - as I said the precise circumstances rule, and careful judgement is obviously required. But frankly it's a miracle that this did not result in a tradedy, and given that some risks might have been warranted.

 

[scheherazade_79]

I know I'm going to get lynched for this, but I think I would have laughed if I'd seen it in RL... in a horrible, uncontrollable, undisguisable way.

And the more people imply that it's no laughing matter, the funnier it gets in my eyes

 

[S-Des]

I know I'm going to get lynched for this, but I think I would have laughed if I'd seen it in RL... in a horrible, uncontrollable, undisguisable way.

And the more people imply that it's no laughing matter, the funnier it gets in my eyes

I think the still pic was hysterical. Although I would have been afraid for his life, seeing him motoring down the road, being pushed by a semi, would have been beyond words.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

June 13
No charges in wheelchair trip

Trucker will not face trial for hitting, pushing Michigan man in wheelchair down road.

Associated Press

PAW PAW, Mich. -- A truck driver who accidentally pushed a 21-year-old Kalamazoo-area man in his wheelchair down a road at 50 mph will not face any criminal charges, authorities said.

Police in Paw Paw, where the wild ride started, did not seek any charges against the 52-year-old trucker in its investigative report to Van Buren County Prosecutor Juris Kaps, and Kaps decided not to charge the driver.

The semi hit Ben Carpenter's wheelchair June 6 as he was trying to cross the Red Arrow Highway in front of the rig, which had stopped at an intersection for a red light. The light changed to green while Carpenter was still passing in front of the semi, which started moving forward because the driver never saw him.

The truck hit and pushed against the side of the wheelchair, which turned forward, its handles becoming lodged in the grille. The rig continued picking up speed and pushing the wheelchair, with Carpenter strapped in it, down the highway until pulling into the parking lot of a trucking company.

Police said the wheelchair was pushed about four miles, but the man's father said the actual distance was about half that.

Ben Carpenter was not hurt.