It’s common to see a car or truck dangling from a bridge in a movie or TV show, but back in March, it actually happened in real life. A truck driver in Louisville, Kentucky crashed through the railing on the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge and was left hanging more than 70 feet above the Ohio River. The crash shut down traffic in both directions while emergency crews figured out how to rescue her safely. Now, a little over two months later, the dashcam footage from the crash has been released.
As you can see in the video below provided by WHAS 11, the crash was actually caused by the driver of a pickup truck who was later identified as Trevor Branham. He swerved into oncoming traffic, hitting Sydney Thomas’s Sysco semi-truck. Thomas was ultimately left hanging for about 45 minutes before emergency crews were able to get her to safety. We’re just grateful she didn’t have any serious injuries and that the truck didn’t fall into the river.
As for Branham, WHAS 11 reports that he was arrested and faces four counts of first-degree wanton endangerment and one count of operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license. In Kentucky, first-degree wanton endangerment is classified as a Class D felony, which comes with a mandatory minimum prison sentence of at least a year and a maximum of five years.
“This is the result, manifesting extreme indifference to human life, that could result in serious physical injury or death,” prosecutor Liem Sokhon told the court. He later added that “[Witnesses] said that, in their estimate, he was speeding, and that he was changing in and out of lanes of traffic prior to collision occurring.”
Branham’s lawyer, however, argued that he should face less serious charges since no one was killed or seriously injured. “It’s a traffic accident that happens every day,” Barton said. “This one just happens to be on the news. And they charge it as [first-degree wanton endangerment] because it’s on the news.”