Crush Groove

Newark, New Jersey, February 15, 2008:

It was a brush with death that still has Ron shuddering. The quasi-famous politico was driving home when a 40-foot-long container flew off a flatbed truck and fell on top of his moving car, crushing it. He survived with just minor injuries.

"The damn thing fell right on me," said Ron, who was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike Thursday when the freakish accident occurred.

"I escaped death by an inch and I'm still shook up thinking about it. I guess it wasn't my time to die," he told the New Jersey Spew in Friday editions.

Ron was lucky he was driving a rental. "My Camaro is in the shop...again," he said. The Chevrolet Malibu was crushed, except -- miraculously -- for a narrow section running the length of the car on the driver's side. Ron had no passengers.

"It [expletive] came down at an angle, crushed the roof and sliced through the car from right to left," Ron said. "If anyone else -- like my running mate Brad -- was in the car, they would have been crushed or decapitated."

Ron escaped with a bump to the head and a small cut on one finger. His trademark mustache was not harmed.

The container was ripped from its chains and off the truck after hitting an overpass in the right lane of the expressway. Ron was driving behind it in the middle lane, the fire department said.

"It happened so fast there was no time to avoid it, nowhere to go," Ron told the Spew.

The occupants of the truck ran back and pulled Ron out through the car window. Police said they were not charged.

Posted by Bittle at February 15, 2008 08:04 AM