An Oregon man narrowly escaped death when a saw blade ran across a parking lot and lodged in a building, shocking video shows.
Shane Reimche was walking into the Quicktrips Neighborhood Market in Eugene on Thursday when the concrete saw broke loose from a nearby construction site.
Surveillance footage obtained by KEZI shows Reimche casually entering the store. Seconds later, the nearly 4-foot blade slices through the cars parked in the parking lot, skids on the sidewalk and crashes into the exterior wall of the store, just inches from the door.
“I put my hand on the door and I heard a loud noise and screaming,” Reimche recalled. “Just when a cloud of smoke rises and I see a guy fall into the ditch. And a four-foot blade rushed at me.
“At the last minute, I was able to hide behind the counter,” he added.
The impact was so powerful that it “shook the entire store,” according to store owner Amit Grewal.
“We were behind the counter, all I heard was metal rolling down the street,” he told the outlet. “It was just wind, all of a sudden we heard a loud bang.”
The deadly blade had broken loose from a nearby construction site being carried out by Northwest Natural Gas and two contracted companies, Brix Paving Northwest and Integrity Traffic.
A bolt may have come loose or there may have been operator error while they were repairing a leaking gas valve, a contractor witness told KEZI.
The gas company said in a statement it was glad no one was injured in the bizarre incident, which it blamed on the contractor.
The deep shard where the blade had lodged was still in front of the door.
“Oh my God, I cried all night. It was petrifying. I was shaking in the store,” he told KEZI. “It took me a while before I could speak. This thing was huge. You can see the hole in the wall.
After the incident, he said he hugged his children as they cried together.
“It obviously wasn’t my moment, but it’s probably the closest I’ve ever had,” Reimche said.
“I don’t think I would have survived being hit by that thing,” he added. “I need a beer. I’m still shaken. It’s 9 o’clock. I’m not going to work today.
New York Post