WFAA is live from the scene of a semi-truck crash in McKinney, Texas, where the 18-wheeler can be seen hanging off the overpass.MCKINNEY, Texas — From the air, it stole your breath. Below — a tow truck barely clinging to the southbound concrete barrier of the Sam Rayburn Tollway after a crash near Hardin Boulevard.McKinney firefighters sprinted to save 32-year-old Martin Briones-Vazquez before gravity did.His brother, Oscar Vazquez, was still on the way when the call came in from family. “She called me ...
WFAA is live from the scene of a semi-truck crash in McKinney, Texas, where the 18-wheeler can be seen hanging off the overpass.
MCKINNEY, Texas — From the air, it stole your breath. Below — a tow truck barely clinging to the southbound concrete barrier of the Sam Rayburn Tollway after a crash near Hardin Boulevard.
McKinney firefighters sprinted to save 32-year-old Martin Briones-Vazquez before gravity did.
His brother, Oscar Vazquez, was still on the way when the call came in from family. “She called me on the way here,” Oscar said. “It’s a little worse than we thought. He’s hanging off a bridge.”
“Hanging off a bridge doesn’t sound good at all, right?”
Texas DPS said Briones-Vazquez was hauling two vehicles on a flatbed trailer when he came upon a disabled car in the roadway. He swerved to avoid a collision but struck the stalled vehicle and the concrete barrier — leaving his cab hanging over the edge.
From Chopper 8, the view was harrowing — the truck’s cab suspended high above Highway 121 as crews positioned their ladder truck beneath it.
“For us, having a semi hanging off of Sam Rayburn is not a normal day on the job,” said Luis Aguilar with McKinney Fire Department. “What ended up happening is Truck 1 put their ladder right under the semi--then crews broke the glass from the cab, and then just had him come out through there.”
Moments later, firefighters pulled Briones-Vazquez to safety — free, and more importantly, alive.
“The only thing between him and the ground,” Oscar said, “was a piece of glass — the windshield.”
Amazingly, Aguilar said the driver suffered just a cut on the head and didn’t initially want to be taken to the hospital, but was taken out of caution. The other driver — whose car had stalled — was also transported with non-life-threatening injuries.
All southbound lanes of Sam Rayburn Tollway at Hardin Boulevard were shut down for hours on Wednesday afternoon, with two northbound lanes also closed, according to the North Texas Tollway Authority. Traffic has since resumed normal flows.
Oscar says his brother turns 33 later this week. “For him to walk off with a scratch on his head — it’s a miracle,” he said.
After a moment like this, there’s a little more to celebrate.