Semi truck hangs off Clark Memorial Bridge in Louisville; driver rescued

train for this situation probably 100 times but to actually put it in action uh it felt good uh we had successful rescue and uh now we go back and we do it again if we have to our top story here at four this dramatic Rescue of a semi-truck driver trapped in the front seat of her truck after driving off the.

Clark Memorial Bridge and getting stuck dangling a treacherous 72 ft above the Ohio River for over a half hour everyone around the city held their breath as Brave emergency crews scrambled to save the truck's driver you can see here they finally managed to remove the driver around 12:38 this afternoon and thank you for joining us here at 4 I'm Connie.

Leonard in for Shay tonight we have Team coverage on the crash and dramatic rescue Jose Alonzo was out at the crash and saw the rescue with his own eyes and Ian hardwood has been talking with people who witnessed that rescue getting their reactions let's start with Jose and Jose what an incredible sight Connie what an incredible sight.

Indeed and let me tell you there was a lot of nerves from the people watching right outside the bridge but I want to go ahead and show it to you now that truck is still dangling at this moment right off the Second Street bridge is what we've been talking about all day there were a lot more First Responders during noon but at this moment there's.

Not as many but earlier again we were talking about how Louisville Fire Department did rescue a woman out of that vehicle and did talk to us earlier this afternoon and we able to talk to us about where exactly how things went down and we also talked to the person who was in that harness rescuing that woman at that.

Moment she was just praying she was praying a lot so uh and I prayed with her during the Run uh just second nature your training takes over like I said we've done it 100 times so uh you just think about everything slow close down and you think about what needs to be done firefighter Bryce Carden was the man hanging off the bridge rescuing a.

Woman out of a semi after a collision with several other vehicles caused this to happen she was thanking you know thank God that's what she kept saying thank God and I I told her I said just take a deep breath and then here's what I need you to do cuz I need her to assist in you know moveing certain ways to be able to get the harness on right.

An entire team of 30 firefighters assessing the scene to help make this a successful rescue it it was a team effort without everybody doing their job we wouldn't been able to have a successful rescue it's extremely lucky uh not so much that it would detach from the trailer but just that the entire truck didn't go into the river this is a.

Once- in a career type of thing unless uh somebody here has done this many times no this is extremely unique so again we were able to talk to those officials about what exactly went on and they did tell us as well that this bridge is set to be closed overnight so we're getting close to that 5:00 hour people are getting out of work.

If you do travel this bridge you're going to have to find a different way to Indiana so and we also did talk to the officials and they were able to tell us that these aren't ideal conditions but that did not stop them from rescuing that woman whatsoever reporting live in Louisville I'm Jose Lonzo wh1 on your side Jose thank you and the fire chief.

Also pointed out that this crew that responded to this Collision also responded to the new L apartment fire and the Kentucky transportation cabinet has ordered an emergency shutdown of the Second Street Bridge both ways right now we have no official timeline on how long it will be closed but lmpd has told us it's improbable the bridge will reopen.

Before tomorrow morning well we are continuing our team coverage with a look at today's big story across the river in Southern Indiana and it's where our Ian hardt and Senior photo journalist Alissa Newton are live now they witnessed the cleanup from the Falls of the Ohio and Ian you're hearing from people in Jeffersonville tell us what they had to.

Say Connie I'm actually hearing from people on both sides of the river and they're all telling me their reliev Louisville fire was able to complete that rescue of the woman driving that truck I'm not sure if you can see it with my umbrella I'm going to take a step to the side so senior photo journalist Alysa Luton can give you a.

Look you can see it there's a lot of emergency crew still up there and some cables already attached to the truck trailer trying to pull that off on Indiana River Bank earlier we met a former truck driver who's also a photographer he came to take some pictures he expained that to's weather is horrible semi trilers like this so if.

A driver has to break hard with these damp roads it can do what's uh it's called Jack knifing the trailer and it can sling that whole truck around while we're still figuring out the exact cause of the crash you can see just how close this came to being a tragedy here's John Harris Jr with a message for the woman rescued from the dangling driver's.

Cab keep your head up uh um things happen and she'll be fine it's going to take a little bit to get over it and but we learn from the experience and keep on trucking keep on trucking that's exactly what John there did after a close call during his earlier truck driving career that ended up lasting 23 years now you can see behind me on the Second Street.

Bridge they got that thing caed up but it could take a few hours before they're able to bring it back down I'm live Jeffersonville

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