Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Man Falls 30 Feet Off Bridge After His Tire Blew [Video]

Man Falls 30 Feet Off Bridge After His Tire Blew [Video]


Man falls 30 feet from Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Reginald D. White is literally a walking miracle after falling 30 feet from the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Saint Petersburg, Florida. According to My Fox Tampa Bay, White was traveling across the bridge toward St. Pete with his wife, Jessica, who was driving the Chevy Trailblazer with their daughter in the back seat around 9:20 p.m. Sunday night.


Suddenly, the SUV blew a rear tire, sending the vehicle into a spin as Jessica slammed on the brakes in complete shock. Reginald and his family found themselves stopped facing oncoming traffic in the inside lane. White immediately told his wife and daughter to get out and run away from the vehicle, as there were several near misses with traffic headed straight for them.
Reginald attempted to change his tire when speeding vehicles passing by caused him to be pushed into the side barrier wall. This caused White to lose his balance. Before he knew it, 43-year-old Reginald found himself falling over 30 feet, the equivalent to three stories, into the rough waters below in pitch black darkness, as he recalled to My Fox Tampa Bay.
“I felt myself falling and I was like before I hit the water, then I knew I was in the water. I was going down… I was going down… I was going down… Something told me ‘you just got to fight.’ And I was fighting and that water was just so rough. When I hit the water it was like God had a glove. He caught me.”
ABC Action News reports that a safety officer just happened to be crossing the bridge at the time Reginald fell, and called in for help.
Jessica remembers yelling to her husband telling him to swim until he could touch the bridge. That is exactly what he did. Reginald swam 120 yards before he was able to grab on to the pylon of the Skyway Bridge.
Even though the waters tried to “snatch him up,” as Reginald tells My Fox Tampa Bay, he remained calm by praising and singing songs.
After about 30 minutes, Reginald was rescued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to UPI. Reginald was never so happy to see a boat stating that when he saw that boat it was the happiest thing in his life. “They’ve got me now. I’m safe,” he revealed.
UPI reports that Reginald White was taken to Bayfront Health, where he was treated for minor injuries. He has no doubt that his rescue and the safety of his life is nothing short of a miracle, as he boldly admits to My Fox Tampa Bay.
“I put God first before anything and I knew He was there.”

6 comments:

jay w. said...

Lesson No.1 if you should ever or anyone in your family should ever experience a tire blow out at highway speeds DO NOT slam on your brakes , get off the gas and let the vehicle slow down in a controlled manner , put on your emergency flashers gently pump the brakes and pull over ,,no big deal , anyone taking drivers ed. was taught this , it is also in every automobile owners manual ,which so few people ever read...........learn to help yourselves people....!!

Freewill said...

I had a steer tire blow on a semi truck at 60 mph and weighing 138,000 lbs... that was fun!

Popeye said...

I HAD A ROLLER SKATE WHEEL LOCK UP ONCE.....DOES THAT COUNT??

Anonymous said...

I used to hitch a ride from the wee town to my flight school, folks would pick me up and drop me at my school because their School was opposite. anyhow, this group picked me up, and as we were goin down the highway, I said, Look at that, someones lost a tire. This was the entire tire with the hub, and it went past us, and kept rolling down the road. Then someone in the car said, lets pull over, thank goodness we did, It was off our vehicle and thank goodness it was a Volvo because these vehicles can run on 3 tires because they have self adjusting suspension, lol.

Freewill said...

So... did you catch that tire? Or is it still going?

Anonymous said...

We sure did Freewill, but you should have seen the look on the faces of the other vehicles, was classic, lol