Neighbors rescue driver during truck explosion in Milwaukee neighborhood
By Stephen Cohn & James Stratton
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MILWAUKEE (WISN) — Neighbors rescued a driver inside a truck that exploded in Milwaukee’s Harambe neighborhood Tuesday morning just before 10 a.m.
Intense video shows the truck on fire as neighbors pulled the man into the alley, putting up trash cans in case another explosion blew debris at them.
12 News cameras on scene show the burnt truck crashed into another vehicle on the side of the street.
Neighbors said the man driving the truck hit a parked truck and lost consciousness, with his foot still on the gas as he pushed the truck and parked truck into a front yard. His truck caught fire.
“I’m like, we gotta get him out of the car, we gotta get him out of the car,” said Shanin Mahan. Mahan notified at least two others that the man was still inside the car while the cab filled with smoke.
Mahan and at least two other people jumped in to help and grabbed a 2-by-4 to try to break the window.
“Luckily pounding on the windows or something, the guy came to and opened up his own door,” said Ryan Eigenfeld. “Just the total look of shock on his face, he didn’t know what was going on.”
Eigenfeld, his coworker Joe Bednarek and Mahan pulled the man to a nearby alley until police and EMS arrived.
The driver was taken to a hospital for treatment. No one else was hurt.
“In a sense, we’re all heroes,” said Bednarek. “I said, ‘you’re a hero,’ and I shouted out to the other two guys, you guys were a hero today.”
Milwaukee Police say the driver of the truck was driving west on West Chambers Street, lost control and hit the parked SUV and both vehicles caught fire.
It is unclear how the driver lost control, police say officers are still investigating what led to the crash.
“In that moment of time, you just do what you have to do right?” said Eigenfeld. “There’s no second guessing, you don’t think. You just react.”
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