August 1st, 2007
Update: Today
WCCO wanted to do an interview with Matt, Heather, and I. I didn't want
to do it initially, but Matt convinced me to give it a shot. Heather
was working and could not make it, so Matt and I met them downtown at
the corner where we made the decision to go down West River Road
instead of Washington Ave. on the way to rehearsal. I wanted to make
sure we had a "pay it forward" theme and not a "Hey, look at us" theme.
I hope it came across OK. Here is the interview.
Update: Ok,
so it seems that friends of friends are passing links to my story
along, and as long as people are reading it there might as well be some
good done. All I request of anyone that sees this is that you use this
experience the same way I have - as a kick in the pants to get out and
do the little things we all put off to make our neighborhoods, cities,
and nation a better place. We live in a democracy folks - that means it
is up to every one of us to make our homes what we want them to be.
Start with National Night Out next Tuesday, August 7th and get to know
your neighbors. You'll be surprised how many would come to your aid if
you needed it. Then make sure you pick something, anything, that you
will do more than just once while this event is fresh in your
mind. Volunteer
somewhere, make *recurring* appointments to give blood, join or
support the Red Cross.
If you can give financially, do it. If not, give your time.
In
times of crisis Americans show an awe inspiring ability to come
together and do incredible things. Our problem is that as soon as the
shock, emotion, and media coverage fades, so does the
commitment
to help as we resettle into our daily lives. Rather than flare
brightly then burn out following times of crisis, let's burn slow and
steady for the long run. There are those around us that do this already
and receive no thanks and no media coverage. They don't just do one
thing in a time of crisis, they commit time
every day to making things better. It is to those people we owe our
thanks and who we should emulate.
I do appreciate
everyone's kind words, and even though I
still don't associate myself and any 4-letter words starting with 'H'
(though other 4-letter words may still apply ;-), I think it is helping
me process things. If you know me you know I'm a bit of an emotional
turtle, but I do appreciate the appreciation. Make sure not
to
forget Matt and Heather Clark. Writing this is my way of putting some
closure around it, but they and many other people there that day did
every bit as much and lived through more than I.
All times and events are
approximate and/or to the best of my memory. Things happened pretty
fast, so this is the best I can do.
I
don't mean this to be any form of self promotion. There are people who
need help and attention right now, and I'm not one of
them. Rather, this is my way of accepting what I saw on August
1st and how close I was to being
Buttermilk Andycakes beneath many tons of concrete and steel.
I have no use for 5 minutes of fame and I am
no hero. We did what we could and no more than many other
bystanders (though unfortunately there were a few people I saw whose
first reaction when the bridge fell was to whip out the cell phone and
start taking pictures... It saddened me.).
When
people are in
trouble you help them. My dad would jump in an erupting volcano for his
family or even a stranger if that's what it took. I've never met anyone
I'd rather emulate when things get tough. My Mom, brother, and sister
are the same way. They just do things the right
way and all I hope is live up to that standard. Dad, Mom, Ben, Lindsay,
Bethany, and all my family and friends - providence granted me the
chance to
write this story and I don't take a second of it for granted.
5:30
- I arrived at Matt and Heather Clark's Warehouse District Condo.
Heather made soup and sandwiches for dinner before University of
Minnesota Alumni Band Summer Band rehearsal. It was delicious. Thanks
Heather!
5:50 -
Matt, Heather, and I got into my Civic and started driving
toward Ferguson Hall at the University. As we turn onto Washington Ave,
we decided to take West River Road to avoid the Twins baseball game
traffic. Great idea! :-) We proceeded to West River Road and
drove
along the river toward the U.
6:05
- We passed under the 35W bridge. My estimates put us at between 25 and
35 mph. Almost immediately after we drove under the bridge, there was
the loudest most horrible metallic screeching noise. It sounded like an
overloaded freight train crossing a strained metal bridge right next to
you. Heather made a comment about it first, then Matt started to
respond "there are no train bridges here." As he replied Heather looked
out the back window and said something to the effect of "Oh my God the
bridge!." Simultaneously I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the
bridge collapse with a screech and a deafening rumble. I felt the
bridge hit the ground, just as we passed under the 10th Avenue Bridge,
approximately 250 feet East of 35W. There might have been one car
behind us, but I think we were the last car to ever drive under that
bridge. I might make a bumper sticker.
Photo from Kare11 Video
By my estimates,
we passed under
the bridge between 5 and 7 seconds before it hit the ground.
AP Photo
6:06
- We drove a couple of hundred feet further down West River Road to a
small parking lot so we would be out of the way of emergency vehicles
that would undoubtedly be there soon. Matt grabbed his phone and dialed
911. I stopped the car, jumped out, and sprinted as fast as I could
toward the bridge. Matt and Heather followed calling emergency
services, then helped people get down from the bridge and began talking
to people and seeing if everyone was ok or if anyone needed medical
attention.
AP Photo
Upon
reaching the bridge it looked like most of the cars were ok in the
section on that bank, and there were several people already out of
their cars. Without really thinking about it, I scrambled up on the
bridge from the East side of the bridge. The first thing to do was to
find and help any injured people or cars that were in danger of falling
into the river. I was on the concrete section just below the now famous
school bus
and burning semi truck, but could not see either of them and had no
idea what was
going on above. The only cars that looked to be in immediate danger (as
long as the bridge held) were right next to the section break between
our section and the one above.
Photo by
Brandi Jade, Pioneer Press
6:08 -
There were only two occupied cars in the section I was on. One was a
family from Houston, Texas in a rented black sedan leaning at an angle
of probably 60 degrees and the other was a middle-aged woman
still
sitting in a silver Prius. The black sedan had 5 passengers and was
resting precariously with its bumper on the concrete and its back
wheels on the hood of a car underneath it. The car underneath the black
sedan was empty with the driver's door open, so whoever was driving it
must have been one of the handful of people standing on the bridge in
shock wondering what just happened (most of these people then began
helping people out of cars and off the bridge). The Texas family in the
black sedan
was still buckled into the car, and was not getting out without some
assistance. The rear passenger side was about 6 feet in the air because
of the
angle and the driver side was no more than a foot away from the median,
on the other side of which the concrete rose at a steep angle. This was
going to be fun.
The
first goal was to get the kids out of the back seat. I didn't know if
the car was stable and would stay put. If it fell there was a chance it
could go in
the crack between sections or slide all the way down the bridge into
the river. On the passenger's side, the back door was probably close to
6 feet above the deck, so the only choice to get the kids out
was to use the median on the
driver's side as a step out of the car. I climbed up on the median and
began helping them get out.
AP Photo
The
father, who was driving, opened the door and jumped out, and I helped
steady him. I opened the back door and their daughter (Logan, I think -
she was probably 17 or so) was next to the door. She was not excited
about getting out or the whole situation in general, but I reached up
and rather strongly insisted she
get out of the unsteady car. I lifted her to the median, and her father
helped her move along the wedge between the steep slope of concrete and
the median and on to the deck. Their nephew
was in the middle and was next (he must have been around 15-16). He was
calm and pretty composed, and only needed a supportive hand down to get
out. Finally, sitting on the passenger's side was grandma Mary. She
was in good spirits, apologizing for being so heavy (she wasn't :-) and
taking it all in stride. We lifted her out of the backseat and
partially carried her down the median to the front of the car and out
of the way in case it fell.
Then
we moved to the
front
passenger side and opened the door. Mom was still buckled in and was
definitely in shock. She didn't want to leave without her shoes (she
wasn't wearing them in the car), so to hurry things along I
grabbed them and put them below the car where she would land instead of
having her try to put them on in the awkward angled car. She wasn't
very excited about moving either, but whe leaned out and I grabbed her
and lifted her down to her shoes. Finally
with the whole family out of the car we had them all move out
of
the way of the cars on the break in case the deck or cars shifted and
fell again.
Update: The
family from Houston was Dennis and Jamie Winegar, their daughter Logan,
nephew Jake, and Jake's Grandmother Mary Kelly. The Winegars were in
town for Dennis' 3-year checkup after a kidney transplant (Jamie gave
him the kidney). They describe what happened to them in this
video (scroll to 9:36 of the video).
Photo from
Minnesota Daily (mndaily.com)
6:18
- Next, there was a woman in a silver Prius that was
terrified and did not want to get out of her car. It was on relatively
stable
ground with all 4 wheels steady. After convincing her she needed to get
off the bridge, she fussed a bit about whether to bring her keys. I
made the decision for her and told her to just grab them to
speed
things up, and helped
her out of the car. She asked about her car and I assured her no one
was going to steal it, and the only way to drive off the bridge would
land you in the river, so it was probably best if she left it where it
was.
Update:
The woman in the Prius was Dr. Jean Forster, a professor at the U's
School of Public Health. She was instrumental in the legal suits
against Big Tobacco in the late 1990's and her work has been used to
support tobacco-related public policy for years. She is also the
epitome of why I downplay anything I did that night. Dr. Forster's work
has likely saved countless lives and improved the quality of life for
countless more. What she does every day far outweighs anything I did
that day. Dr. Forster - thank you for everything you do.
Photo
from Minnesota Daily (mndaily.com)
6:20
- By this time the semi truck was burning pretty good and we knew we
needed to get off the bridge in a hurry. There was a pretty steep drop
to the edge of the bridge, so we had to
help mom and grandma Mary get down. It was at this point that the
first emergency personnel arrived. A police officer helped me get Mary
over the concrete rail and onto solid ground. We got everyone down and
then began
canvassing for injuries. Update: I had forgotten, but Dan
Schueller's comments and a look back at the pictures reminded me that
as we were helping the last few people off the bridge a white
construction pickup slid off of the section above and crashed into the
crack between our section and the one above. It landed only a few feet
from the Houston family's sedan, and essentially on top of another car
in the crack. We saw it break loose and skid a few feet before falling,
but luckily it was unoccupied and nobody was near it when it fell. It
is odd that I didn't remember that - it was a big kick in the pants to
get off the bridge ASAP. I guess there were a lot of things going on
and you can't absorb and retain everything.
Update: Here
is an audio
slideshow narrated by Dan Schueller, who was riding his
bike right beside us when the bridge fell. He rode up to the bridge and
was the first person from the ground to climb up on the
bridge. There
is a great picture of him helping Sarah Mundy from her car, and some
pictures of the people that were on that section climbing down. He
describes his experience in written
comments
on the StarTribune website..
Photo from
Minnesota Daily (mndaily.com)
6:25
- At this point everyone in our section was off the bridge and
congregating on the road next to it. Matt and Heather had been talking
to a young woman named Sarah who was in a pretty bad state of shock.
She was trembling and
very upset. The look in her eyes was the same as you would see in the
9/11 pictures - vacant and unfocused. She had called her fiance but got
his voice mail. She was looking very alone and in need of some support.
We spoke to her and tried to calm her while we asked around to
see
if
there was anything else we could do (this is when I called
my family quickly to say I was ok - I didn't want to tie up phone lines
so it was a couple quick calls and I tried to stay off my phone after
that). It was about this time the reporters started arriving and
sticking a microphone in anyone's face that would talk to them. I
realize the story is a big deal and that is what they do, but
sometimes I wonder about having people stand around with a video
camera when there could be people who really need help.
6:45
- After the police began cordonning off the area and the firefighters
moved in to take over the rescue operations, we started asking people
who had been on the bridge if anyone needed a ride anywhere or any
medical assistance. We convinced Sarah,
the young woman who had some pain in her side - probably a
bruise from her seat belt, but definitely needed to be checked out - to
go to the hospital.
There were no ambulances around that area of the bridge, so I
volunteered to take her to the
hospital. They needed cars out of the area and were shuttling us away,
so we decided it was time to move away. We spoke to a firewoman that
seemed to be coordinating the units in that area, and she agreed that
it could be a while for ambulances to our area since the injuries were
far worse on the other side of the bridge and the other bank, and if we
could take her to the
hospital it would be helpful. Along with the Houston family we made our
way (slowly) away from the scene and to the spot my car was parked.
7:05
- We arrived at my car and left for the hospital. Matt and Heather
stayed
behind to see if anyone else needed rides or other help. Sarah lives on
the North side of the river, and her
fiance works on that side of the river, so I decided to take her to
Fairview University on the East Bank (after making sure she was ok with
crossing the
river again on the
Washington Ave Bridge). It was unclear how hard it would be to get over
the river later that night, and I wanted to make sure her fiance could
get
to her. I have no idea how to treat someone in shock, but it didn't
seem healthy for her to sit in silence and think about what just
happened so I just started peppering her with about every question I
could think of. Where she went to school, what her major was, where she
grew up, where she worked, what she did, who her clients were, where
she lived, how her fiance proposed, etc... No idea if it helped, but I
hope it took her mind off things and let her know she was going to be
OK.
Update:
The
girl I brought to the hospital's name is Sarah Mundy. I did not
realize it at the time, but her car was the one half off the front of
the bridge (red
one in bottom picture). I certainly understand why she was in shock. An
interview on WCCO (Thanks Andrea). On Friday afternoon 8/2, the
video was on Page 2, Date of video is 8/2/07 6:55 PM. Glad you are OK
Sarah.
7:22
- After dropping her off (in retrospect, I should have stayed with her
to make sure she was OK until her fiance arrived - sorry Sarah! I also
didn't get her last name, so I haven't been able to follow up and make
sure she's alright.), I went back across the
river to meet Matt and Heather at the U of M Law School. Traffic at
that point on the West Bank was awful. The
gawkers were there in full force, getting in the way of emergency
personnel and jamming up traffic.We decided that since the people with
the
right training and right equipment had arrived in force there was
nothing more we
could do. We wouldn't do any good tying up traffic or cell phone lines,
so we left. (Side note: From what I saw beside the bridge, Twin Cities
emergency services personnel responded amazingly. They worked fast, but
deliberately. There was no chaos, no panic. Just cooperation,
communication, and digging into the work that needed to get done.)
7:49
- Dropped Matt and Heather off at their place and headed home to South
Minneapolis. The
first thing I did when I got home (after a big hug from Bethany) was
look up Memorial Blood Services
and tried to call for an appointment to give blood. Thankfully it was
overwhelmed and
their voice mail box was full. I ended up waiting until Thursday and
scheduling a donation later next week on the Internet, because after
the
buzz of this
tragedy dies down they are still going to need it. I have O Negative
blood and need to donate much more often than I do. It is now on my
calendar as a
recurring event every 8 weeks and I intend to keep it there.
9:30 - After
digesting things for a bit, Matt, Heather, and a group
of friends met at a bar and raised a beer to the fact that we were
all still here and how happy we were to be together that night. It was
the best beer I think I've ever tasted.
AB
andy
. @ . andyblair.com