Car gets dragged along California freeway as driver waves for help
CAJON PASS, Calif. -- A driver says he is lucky to be alive after his car became wedged under a truck and was dragged four miles on a Southern California freeway, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Cellphone video captured the unbelievable sight of a maroon Nissan Maxima stuck under a truck hauling 50,000 pounds of carrots that continued driving up the remote canyon pass Wednesday afternoon. The driver in the sedan can be seen waving his hands for help behind a shattered windshield and crushed hood.
A California Highway Patrol statement said the truck was driving 30 mph northbound in the truck lane when it began to move into the left lane. The Maxima, while trying to pass into the left lane also, collided with the truck and became lodged, according to the CHP.
Witnesses said they thought the car had been dragged for miles, but CHP officials said the Maxima had been dragged for “approximately .7 of a mile.”
Brian Steimke posted the Facebook video, in which you can hear him saying in disbelief, “Look at that. Oh my God.”
Other drivers honked to get the truck driver’s attention, and one finally got in front to stop the truck.
Steimke approached the truck driver -- identified by the California Highway Patrol as 62-year-old Pete Edward Maestas of Bakersfield -- and asked him why he was driving so far.
“Dude, the guy was underneath your car!” Steimke is heard saying.
When Maestas said he did not know that, Steimke says “What do you mean you didn’t know it, dude! He’s on your truck!”
The driver of the sedan -- identified as 34-year-old Javier A. Diaz Jr. of Oak Hills -- is just a bit sore from the collision and is happy to be home with his family.
According to the CHP, this crash is not considered a criminal incident. Officers on the scene did not detect any signs of impairment on the truck driver, and said the driver’s log book appeared to be in compliance.
Neither driver requested medical care, CHP officials said.
