Tow truck drivers retell pulling semi back onto Clark Memorial Bridge

Despite more than 20 years of experience, this scene was a first for Jeff Edwards and Justin Schaffer."Oh, there's plenty of stories. But this one has to be the top one,” Jeff Edwards said. “When I rolled up, it looked like a scene from an action movie. It looked like it was something that was not real,” Schaffer said.Edwards and Schaffer were on the scene last week when a semi-truck was dangling off the Clark Memorial Bridge.It's a job these men with Suburban towing Incorporated won't forget.“It's once in a lifetime,” Edwards said.After a dramatic rescue effort by Louisville firefighters to save the trapped driver Friday afternoon, it was their job to get the truck back onto the bridge and keep it from falling into the river.Using three rotating boom trucks, they used what they called a slingshot method. “We also had to hold the back of it and then winched the back of the trailer back onto the bridge deck itself,” Schaffer said. “That and the rotating recovery boom was extended out over their bridge girders themselves. And then we lifted the front of the trailer like this and in the rear of the trailer, we had this other rotator that's over here on the backside of it, and that truck stabilized the back end of the trailer and then winched the trailer into it, into the back onto the bridge deck.”Ten hours later, the truck was back on the bridge in one piece. “We brought everything back up with us,” Schaffer said. The tow truck drivers credited the strength of the trailer.“That trailer is a refrigerated unit which is a lot stronger than most trailers,” Schaffer said. “Had she been pulling a smaller trailer or shorter trailer that day, the trailer would have not caught that bridge at the top where it caught. Everything just worked out perfectly for her and our recovery that day.”While rescue crews successfully got the driver out and this crew successfully got the truck back on land, they say all the credit doesn't go to them. “It's a higher power than all of us. You know, that's the man upstairs looking out for us,” Schaffer said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —

Despite more than 20 years of experience, this scene was a first for Jeff Edwards and Justin Schaffer.

"Oh, there's plenty of stories. But this one has to be the top one,” Jeff Edwards said.

“When I rolled up, it looked like a scene from an action movie. It looked like it was something that was not real,” Schaffer said.

Edwards and Schaffer were on the scene last week when a semi-truck was dangling off the Clark Memorial Bridge.

It's a job these men with Suburban Towing Incorporated won't forget.

“It's once in a lifetime,” Edwards said.

After a dramatic rescue effort by Louisville firefighters to save the trapped driver Friday afternoon, it was their job to get the truck back onto the bridge and keep it from falling into the river.

Using three rotating boom trucks, they used what they called a slingshot method.

“We also had to hold the back of it and then winched the back of the trailer back onto the bridge deck itself,” Schaffer said. “That and the rotating recovery boom was extended out over their bridge girders themselves. And then we lifted the front of the trailer like this and in the rear of the trailer, we had this other rotator that's over here on the backside of it, and that truck stabilized the back end of the trailer and then winched the trailer into it, into the back onto the bridge deck.”

Ten hours later, the truck was back on the bridge in one piece.

“We brought everything back up with us,” Schaffer said.

The tow truck drivers credited the strength of the trailer.

“That trailer is a refrigerated unit which is a lot stronger than most trailers,” Schaffer said. “Had she been pulling a smaller trailer or shorter trailer that day, the trailer would have not caught that bridge at the top where it caught. Everything just worked out perfectly for her and our recovery that day.”

While rescue crews successfully got the driver out and this crew successfully got the truck back on land, they say all the credit doesn't go to them.

“It's a higher power than all of us. You know, that's the man upstairs looking out for us,” Schaffer said.

Credits