Marcelo Ordaz-Cruz of Crystal, who placed 6th in the wheelchair division of the 2005 Twin Cities Marathon, was among the survivors of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse on Wednesday.
Cruz's story is reported in a CNN story, HERE.
The video piece the news network ran is HERE.
Cruz was also quoted in the second half of THIS Star-Tribune story.
Cruz was driving a blue van that is recognizable in many of the photos of the bridge collapse. He witnessed the bridge shaking and then collapsing. He told CNN he saw 10 or 20 cars in front of him plunge into the water.
"I thought I was going to die," he told CNN.
The 26-year-old was unable to brake his van to a stop on the steep incline, so he swerved it into the concrete guard rail.
You can see a striking photo of his van HERE.
You can see a photo of his rescue HERE.
The bridge ordeal was Cruz's second close call with death. The Mexican native lost the use of his legs in a shooting several years ago.
Cruz finished 9th in the wheelchair division of this year's Grandma's Marathon, clocking 2:09:25.
(Thanks to Team USA Minnesota's Pat Goodwin for the tip on this story.)
Friday, August 03, 2007
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1 comment:
I think its so great people made it out alive. Its a crazy story to tell the grand kids about. Now imagine, a bridge collapses, and people who survived, were in wheel chairs. It just goes to prove and show how strong we all are!
wheelchair vans
-Jeffrey
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