ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. --
A male driver miraculously survived a large piece of scrap metal crushing his van after the massive pipe fell from a truck that lost control and overturned on a Florida highway on Saturday.
Jesus Armando Escobar, 36, was exiting off Interstate 4 onto State Road 528 around 7:35 a.m. Above him on the overpass, Antonio Santiago Wharton, 33, of Kissimmee, was driving a Mack truck loaded down with scrap metal.
Wharton lost control of the truck, hit the guardrail and overturned the vehicle, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A large metal pipe flew off Wharton's truck, tumbled off the overpass and landed on the roof of Escobar's Pontiac van, according to WFTV.
The impact completely crushed the driver side roof of the van, troopers said. Amazingly, Escobar was able to walk away from the crash with only minor injuries.
Wharton was cited for careless driving.
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ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - When 36-year-old Jesus Armando Escobar was exiting off Interstate 4 onto State Road 528, he had no idea what was about to happen on the overpass above him.
Antonio Santiago Wharton, 33, of Kissimmee, was driving a Mack truck loaded down with scrap metal at about 7:35 a.m. Saturday.
As he negotiated the curve, he lost control of the truck, hit the guardrail and overturned the vehicle, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
A large metal pipe flew off Wharton’s truck, tumbled off the overpass and landed squarely on the roof of Escobar’s Pontiac Van.
The force of the impact completely crushed the driver side roof of the van, troopers said.
Somehow, Escobar was able to walk away from the crash with only minor injuries.
If he had been sitting in any other seat, he would have likely been killed, officials said.
Theodore Olson, with AATR Orlando, said he's seen a lot of wrecks, but nothing like this.
"I've seen crushed cars before, but nothing in this kind of circumstance, where, like, they were up on on upper bridge and it rolled out of a container and crushed a car," Olson said. "I thought it was a fatality, to be honest with you. But they came out and said, 'Nope, he's only got scratches.'"
Wharton was ticketed for careless driving, troopers said.