Semi-truck takes man and wheelchair for a ride down Red Arrow Highway

Tribune Staff Report

PAW PAW, Mich. -- A 21-year-old man was taken on a wild ride Wednesday afternoon when the wheelchair he was in became attached to the grille of a semi-truck and was taken four miles down a highway at about 50 mph.

The man, whose name police did not release, was not injured. The driver was unaware he was pushing the man, according to a news release from the Michigan State Police.

Authorities began receiving calls about 4 p.m. that the semi was traveling westbound on Red Arrow Highway, just outside of Paw Paw, with the wheelchair.

"You are not going to believe this, (but) there is a semi pushing a guy in a wheelchair on Red Arrow Highway," an unknown caller told the Michigan State Police.

Police at first believed the calls were pranks. But when troopers responded to the Ralph Moyle Trucking Co. at 39269 Red Arrow Highway where the semi had come to a stop, they noticed the wheelchair with the man sitting in it, still attached.

"It was quite a ride," the man reportedly told police.

"The man spilled his soda pop, but he wasn't upset," Sgt. Kathy Morton of the Michigan State Police said.

Police said the man was unharmed and unfazed by the incident.

The driver was in disbelief when he stepped out of the semi and saw what he had picked up along the way, police said.

"When he saw us, he was like, 'What's going on?'" Morton said.

An investigation revealed the driver had pulled out of a local gas station when the man in the wheelchair pulled in front of the semi, according to police. His wheelchair somehow became lodged by its handles to the front grille.

"Thank God the semi didn't go on (Interstate) 94," Morton said.

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1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)