NEED TO KNOW
- A tow truck driver was rescued after his vehicle was left dangling over a Texas overpass following a crash
- Martin Briones-Vazquez, 32, was able to escape just 15 minutes after he became trapped in the truck
- “It’s a miracle,” Martin’s brother Oscar Vazquez said
A tow truck driver was rescued from a precarious position on Wednesday after his vehicle was left dangling off a Texas overpass following a crash.
Crews responded to the scene on Sam Rayburn Tollway in the early afternoon on Wednesday, Oct. 22, according to a statement shared on Facebook by the McKinney Fire Department (MFD).
Fire officials said a semi-tow truck “ended up hanging off the edge” after it “swerved to avoid another vehicle” on the roadway.
Oscar Vazquez said his brother, 32-year-old Martin Briones-Vazquez, was the driver of the truck, according to ABC affiliate WFAA-TV. The crash occurred just days before Martin’s 33rd birthday.
A truck dangles over a Texas overpass following a crash on Oct. 22.
McKinney Fire Department/Facebook
Oscar said he was on his way to the scene when a family member called him and said the situation was “worse than we thought.”
“I was, like, in shock,” Oscar recalled, per CBS affiliate KTVT, He added, “my mind just went blank.”
It reportedly only took 15 minutes for Martin to be rescued by firefighters. Firefighters first “stabilized the vehicle” before conducting the “high-risk rescue,” eventually bringing the driver of the truck to safety, according to the MFD.
Luis Aguilar of the McKinney Fire Department said one truck “put their ladder right under the semi” before crews “broke the glass from the cab” so the driver could crawl out, per WFAA-TV.
Firefighters helped rescue the driver of a tow truck that dangled over a Texas overpass on Oct. 22.
McKinney Fire Department/Facebook
Fire officials said the driver sustained “only a minor laceration to the forehead,” and was “otherwise unharmed.”
“This is one of those movie-like moments. They don’t come often,” Aguilar said, per KTVT. “Any wrong movement can be detrimental to one of our guys’ lives — or even his.”
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Meanwhile, both Oscar and his brother Martin feel like “it’s a miracle” that the driver survived the ordeal.
“That’ll be the easy way to put it,” Oscar said.
