Within four minutes of arriving on the scene to aid a stalled tractor-trailer driver on an Atlanta interstate, HERO operator Chris Canady looked up and saw another 18-wheeler barreling right toward them.
It took only seconds before he was on the ground.
“The back portion of (the passing tractor-trailer) touched the driver side of the disabled tractor-trailer and then started coming towards us, and then when I looked to my right, you could see that the tractor-trailer started closing in on us,” Canady told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, describing the frightening scene of last week’s crash in Clayton County.
Canady, who has been assisting stranded drivers, clearing roads and restoring traffic flow as a HERO operator since August 2014, was left bruised and sore following the hit-and-run on I-75 North at the I-285 West ramp.
Clayton County police continue to search for the driver, who failed to remain at the scene.
Canady’s ordeal began after being sent to help a tractor-trailer that was stalled in the right lane of the I-285 ramp shortly before 9 p.m. on June 9. The left lane of the ramp remained open, letting traffic through. When Canady pulled up, he said he parked directly behind the stalled truck.
Credit: Chris Canady
Credit: Chris Canady
He and the driver of the stalled big rig were standing on the passenger side, he said, until the driver walked to the driver’s side to look at the engine and Canady followed. That exposed the two to passing traffic on the left lane of the ramp, but Canady emphasized that most drivers were giving them plenty of room.
That was until a tractor-trailer rubbed the back end of the stalled vehicle and continued to close in on the two men.
“We just couldn’t get out of it fast enough to receive no injury, but we got out of there fast enough not to receive ... life-threatening injuries,” Canady said.
Canady said he was clipped on his right shoulder, spinning him around. He was then hit again on the back of his left shoulder before falling to the ground in front of the stalled truck.
The crash left him with bruises, road rash and muscle soreness, but an X-ray revealed he had no broken bones, Canady said.
He said the driver of the stalled tractor-trailer was just rubbed by the truck on his left leg and sustained only minor injuries.
“I was moving with the tractor-trailer as opposed to trying to resist it,” Canady said. “If I had tried to resist it or tensed up, it probably would have been worse, so I just rolled with it.”
Anyone who witnessed the crash is asked to contact the Clayton County Police Department.
About the Author
