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Driver who plunged off Wisconsin ramp thankful to be alive

MILWAUKEE — A driver who survived when his pickup truck plunged 70 feet off a slippery interchange in Wisconsin said he feels thankful to be alive.

Richard Lee Oliver, in an interview that aired Thursday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” said he was on his way to his mother’s house when his truck hit snow on the shoulder of a Milwaukee-area overpass.

“There was just too much snow on the side of the road that once the tires got into like two foot of snow there’s no controlling a vehicle of any kind,” said Oliver, who was hospitalized with a broken back and a broken leg, among other injuries.

A Wisconsin Department of Transportation camera captured Saturday’s crash in which the pickup can be seen flipping over the a barrier wall and plummeting to the interstate below as cars pass by. The truck landed upright on the right shoulder of the westbound lanes of Interstate 94.

Oliver, the father of a 6-month-old, said he is grateful to the two people who came to his aid, including a man who helped him make a phone call.

Oliver mentions in the interview that one of the other motorists helped him into the bed of the truck. The fact that Oliver suffered a broken back is a good reminder that when rendering first aid in a car crash, never move occupants unless they are in imminent danger, such as from a fire. Always wait for first responders to assess their condition and move them.

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