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06-08-2007, 01:02 PM
Wheelchair-bound man gets ride of lifetime
Semitrailer pushes Kalamazoo resident 4 miles at speeds up to 50 mph after chair gets stuck in grille.
Ronald J. Hansen / The Detroit News
Audio: Panicked callers report man stuck in truck's grill to 911 operators
Printer friendly version
Some said it was Benjamin Carpenter's lucky day; others thought divine intervention had a hand.
Whatever it was, everyone in Paw Paw was talking Thursday about the Kalamazoo man whose wheelchair became inadvertently stuck to the grille of a semitrailer and was whisked four miles at speeds up to 50 mph.
He spilled a drink, but Carpenter was unhurt.
"It was quite a ride," the 21-year-old told a Michigan State Police trooper who spotted the rig, pulled him over and ended the jaunt.
While Carpenter seemed to take it in stride, witnesses who saw him crossing an intersection around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when the traffic light changed and the truck pulled ahead understandably feared the worst.
"Oh my God! He's in a wheelchair!" one distraught woman told police dispatchers. "You are not going to believe this: There is a (semitrailer) pushing a guy in a wheelchair on Red Arrow Highway," another caller said.
The accident happened at a T-shaped intersection when Carpenter headed south across the street while the westbound truck waited at a red light. Police said the light changed and the driver drove ahead unaware of the man in front.
The truck driver, whom authorities declined to identify, was shaken by the incident, said Trooper Michael Sinke.
Sinke helped pull the wheelchair from the grille.
"I could probably work another hundred years in law enforcement and never experience it again," he said. "I asked (Carpenter) if he was OK. He said, 'Yeah, I'm fine. I just went for a ride.' "
Neither Carpenter nor his family could be reached for comment about the incident that has made national news and sent a buzz across Paw Paw.
"He must have had an angel on his shoulder," said Heather Scott, a hairstylist in Mattawan.
"He said it was the ride of his life," said Daniel Martinez, 21, who knows Carpenter and talked to him afterward. Carpenter, who Martinez said has muscular dystrophy, is an adventurous man who enjoys video games and the movie "Star Wars."
Even so, Wednesday's action could have had an ugly ending.
The wheelchair apparently turned after the truck pushed it. And the chair's rear handles were the same height as an opening in the truck's grille, making it easier to attach to the truck rather than crumple underneath.
"Whatever happened, it happened right or he wouldn't have survived," said Susan Millek, a spokeswoman for the Paw Paw Police Department.
As it was, the main tires on the wheelchair were shredded by the time police pulled over the driver, Sinke said.
Prosecutors will consider whether any criminal charges are appropriate, Millek said.
http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/METRO/706080401
Semitrailer pushes Kalamazoo resident 4 miles at speeds up to 50 mph after chair gets stuck in grille.
Ronald J. Hansen / The Detroit News
Audio: Panicked callers report man stuck in truck's grill to 911 operators
Printer friendly version
Some said it was Benjamin Carpenter's lucky day; others thought divine intervention had a hand.
Whatever it was, everyone in Paw Paw was talking Thursday about the Kalamazoo man whose wheelchair became inadvertently stuck to the grille of a semitrailer and was whisked four miles at speeds up to 50 mph.
He spilled a drink, but Carpenter was unhurt.
"It was quite a ride," the 21-year-old told a Michigan State Police trooper who spotted the rig, pulled him over and ended the jaunt.
While Carpenter seemed to take it in stride, witnesses who saw him crossing an intersection around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when the traffic light changed and the truck pulled ahead understandably feared the worst.
"Oh my God! He's in a wheelchair!" one distraught woman told police dispatchers. "You are not going to believe this: There is a (semitrailer) pushing a guy in a wheelchair on Red Arrow Highway," another caller said.
The accident happened at a T-shaped intersection when Carpenter headed south across the street while the westbound truck waited at a red light. Police said the light changed and the driver drove ahead unaware of the man in front.
The truck driver, whom authorities declined to identify, was shaken by the incident, said Trooper Michael Sinke.
Sinke helped pull the wheelchair from the grille.
"I could probably work another hundred years in law enforcement and never experience it again," he said. "I asked (Carpenter) if he was OK. He said, 'Yeah, I'm fine. I just went for a ride.' "
Neither Carpenter nor his family could be reached for comment about the incident that has made national news and sent a buzz across Paw Paw.
"He must have had an angel on his shoulder," said Heather Scott, a hairstylist in Mattawan.
"He said it was the ride of his life," said Daniel Martinez, 21, who knows Carpenter and talked to him afterward. Carpenter, who Martinez said has muscular dystrophy, is an adventurous man who enjoys video games and the movie "Star Wars."
Even so, Wednesday's action could have had an ugly ending.
The wheelchair apparently turned after the truck pushed it. And the chair's rear handles were the same height as an opening in the truck's grille, making it easier to attach to the truck rather than crumple underneath.
"Whatever happened, it happened right or he wouldn't have survived," said Susan Millek, a spokeswoman for the Paw Paw Police Department.
As it was, the main tires on the wheelchair were shredded by the time police pulled over the driver, Sinke said.
Prosecutors will consider whether any criminal charges are appropriate, Millek said.
http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/METRO/706080401