A man is recovering from minor injuries after he got out of a vehicle following a crash, stumbled backward and fell some 30 feet off an approach to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Troopers said 43-year-old Reginald D. White of Bradenton stopped on Interstate 275 after a tire blew out on his SUV on Sunday night.
As he changed the tire, White lost his balance and fell backward, over a barrier wall and into the water below. He swam to a nearby pylon and held on until help arrived.
"When I hit the water, it was like God had a glove. He caught me," White told Tampa Bay's WFTS. "I just hit the water, I came up, and the first thing I saw was that pylon. So I had to swim to it."
An incident report said officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission rescued White, who was taken to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg with minor injuries.
Two passengers in the SUV were not injured.
FHP is investigating the crash.
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