Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Southwest Teen Saves Trapped Driver

- There were 231 crashes in the metro on Saturday morning. For one victim, he was fortunate to crash into just the right driver, a Minneapolis teen.
Will Tieleman, 17-years-old, was driving southbound on Highway 100 when he lost control near 494 in Bloomington. Tieleman’s spinout would become a two-car, then three-car crash.

“I was getting ready to drive away, and I looked over my shoulder to the left and just got broadsided by a Honda Accord,” Tieleman told Fox 9.

Tieleman, suffering a concussion, said he told the other driver to remain in his car. “I said ‘stay in your car, you could get hit by another car. The road’s really slippery.’”

However, the other driver told Tieleman his car was on fire and he soon exited -- “While we were waiting, another car came and slid and hit the other guy’s car, and the other guy got trapped between his car and my car,” Tieleman said, adding that the man’s legs were trapped and he was yelling.
With the man stuck, and the potential for more cars to slide into their accident, Tieleman waited for an opportunity to free the trapped driver. He told Fox 9 the opportunity came when the third driver left the scene of their accident.

“When [the third driver] backed up, the cars kind of came apart, so we were able to pick him up and carry him out,” Tieleman told Fox 9. “He looked like he was hurting. I never found out what happened to him.”

Tieleman says he and his passenger carried the man to safety.

State Patrol tells Fox 9 the trapped driver suffered “significant, but not life-threatening injuries.” A State Patrol spokesperson said investigators found the vehicle that left the scene, and are working to identify the driver.

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