LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The driver of a semitruck is safe after a perilous crash left the rig dangling over the edge of the Second Street Bridge, which connects Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana.
What You Need To Know
- A semitruck and two vehicles were involved in a crash on the Second Street Bridge just after noon in Louisville
- The truck dangled from the edge of the bridge with the driver inside
- Louisville Fire Department, Louisville Metro Police and EMS responded to the incident
- The truck driver and one driver from another vehicle were not injured, the driver of the third vehicle was injured and taken to University of Louisville Hospital
There were several vehicles involved in the crash. Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) say it involved two cars, a pickup truck and the semitruck. The police investigation is still preliminary and LMPD hasn’t said what caused the crash or how the semitruck was sent over the edge of the bridge.
In a news conference after the rescue, Louisville Fire Department Chief Brian O’Neill updated the coordinated response to save the truck driver. He said the driver “held it together amazingly,” during the rescue, but said she was shaken up. He confirmed the driver was the only person in the cab. She was taken to University Hospital, alert and conscious.
The fire chief said the crash was reported at around 12:03 p.m. and firefighters were there by 12:06 p.m. He noted how rare the situation was, calling it a “worst-case scenario” and a “once-in-a-career kind of thing.” O’Neill also remarked on how precariously the truck was to be dangling over the edge of the bridge without falling into the river, saying it was “essentially pinched.”
The Louisville Hazardous Response team trains for situations just like this bridge incident.
“We’re willing to risk a lot to save a lot,” O’Neill shared, saying the rescue was a team effort along with the Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville Emergency Medical Services.
It took rescue crews approximately 40 minutes to set up for the rescue and O’Neill said the driver was in the cab hanging over the river for 45 to 50 minutes.
The firefighter who made the rescue was “exactly the right person you’d want in this situation,” O’Neill said.
Bryce Carden, the firefighter who saved the driver, said, “We had a successful rescue, and we’d go back and do it again if we have to.”
Carden is a six-year veteran of the LFD and is originally from Louisville. He attended Butler High School and the University of Pikeville.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, shared this picture from his X, formerly known as Twitter, account.
Two other people were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. They were both in one of the vehicles involved in the crash.
LMPD will investigate the cause of the crash while the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will be tasked with testing the bridge’s stability following the accident, O’Neill explained.
According to LMPD, both the Indiana and Kentucky sides of the bridge will remain closed. They don’t know when it will reopen, but it will not be before Saturday morning.
LMPD, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet are all investigating the crash. LMPD’s river unit is working with the Coast Guard underneath the scene.