Man in Wheelchair Taken for a Ride

[E]

PAW PAW, Mich. (June 8) - A 21-year-old man got the ride of a lifetime when his electric wheelchair became lodged in the grille of a semitrailer and was pushed down a highway for several miles at about 50 mph.

Ben Carpenter was unharmed but was taken to a hospital as a precaution. He had been secured to his wheelchair by a seat belt. Carpenter, who has muscular dystrophy, told a television station that he thought he might not make it through the ride.

"I was probably thinking that this is going to keep going and not stop anywhere, 50 or 60 miles somewhere," he told WOOD-TV of Grand Rapids.

Ben Carpenter's father, Donald, told The Associated Press that his son had started to cross at an intersection Wednesday afternoon in Paw Paw, about 140 miles west of Detroit. The light changed to green while his son was in front of a semi, which started moving.

The wheelchair's handles became lodged in the grille, the father said, and the wild ride started.

Motorists called 911 on their cell phones, and a pair of undercover police officers who happened to be nearby saw what was happening. They pulled the truck over and told the disbelieving driver, Donald Carpenter said.

The chair was undamaged except for losing most of the rubber on its wheels, he said.

"It's a very bad story that ended very well," he said. "We're just thrilled that he's still around."

[Triassic]

Amazing that he's alive. They build those powerchairs pretty strong, I geuss; especially the wheels...if one had jammed or fallen off, he'd have been sucked under the truck in a second.

[Ouch]

Yeah I read about this myself...shows you how much training/awareness those drivers have...from the article I read, the driver said he didn't believe the police, until he stepped out of the vehicle...sweet, and some of those guys might be transporting plutonium rods to who knows where.

[Triassic]

I can't blame the driver much. That truck grill was huge and the wheeler was probably, what? 4 1/2 feet tall? I worry about not being seen when moving behind a line of parked cars....but I'm still not ready to get a bike flag yet.

[BA]

Last year in my very town... yes my very own little townie a woman hit a male pedestrian on a snowy day. She drove all the way across town with him under her car until she decided to stop for coffee at the local Welsh Farms convenience store. It was only then that she noticed that she had a man under her car.

She thought she'd hit a piece of cardboard and was dragging it for a block or two.

The young guy suffered a broken leg and one hell of a road rash, but he is alive and well. She, I am sure is alive and still stupid.

[Ouch]

lol, Tri, that's why I live by my rule of 'Go Fast'.

[ozedave]

Then there's this bloke, lucky to be alive but for a different reason.

"German Wheelchair Driver Busted for Drunk Driving

Most lesser mortals wouldn't even be able to sit upright with a blood alcohol level of 0.20, but a German man shocked police by cruising down the road in his wheelchair with an alcohol concentration of 0.51 percent.

It seems the 31-year old had been out partying with mates and was on his way to another village a couple of kilometers down the road in the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.



The disabled man caught the attention of passing police officers because he was weaving his wheelchair down the middle of the street. The stench of alcohol on his breath was enough for police to order him to blow into the bag -- where a blood alcohol content was registered that was ten times higher than the legal driving limit.



Although Germans are in the top-ten in the world rankings for knocking back booze, police were rightly concerned about the man's health -- 0.50 percent is generally considered enough to kill a normal person.



Polite police



The officers called an ambulance, but the drunk driver went a bit berserk at the idea of going to the hospital, saying he was fine. And quite rightly so. The idea of waking up to hospital food after a big night out drinking enough to put anyone off.

The eventual solution -- the police officers drove alongside the man all the way to his front door to make sure he didn't drive into a ditch. But it seems the disabled man wasn't happy with the courteous police service. He had wanted to keep partying and wasn't planning on going home at all.



Police said that because the man was technically traveling as a pedestrian, he could not be charged with a driving offence.



"It's not like we can impound his wheelchair," the spokesman said. "But he is facing some sort of punishment. It's just not clear yet what exactly that will be.""

Must have been one hell of a night!

[Ouch]

Yeah I had read about that...

...I don't know what the 'public drunkeness' laws are in Germany...the next morning should be punishment enough.

[Pony]

Yeah, i saw the story on news about the young guy in electric chair getting taken for a ride. I promise you, i'd be DEAD!!! My damn front wheels would wooble right off in a heartbeat. Like Triassic, i'm extra careful on parking lots!!

Few weeks ago in Ft Lauderdale a guy dragged a big woman under his car for several miles while running from an accident. She did NOT survive, and i hate to even think what condition her body was in. Creative E must know this story, it's in his neck of woods.

[Ouch]

Yuckus Maximus