KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — After a tractor-trailer crash left I-640 W in Knoxville closed for hours on Monday, 6 News spoke with a man who helped to pull a family from a crushed car.
Alex Whitley and his coworker Colin Heck were on their way back to work when they came up on a tractor-trailer that had just overturned. They immediately pulled over and helped get the truck driver out, that’s when Whitley saw a car pinned beneath the trailer.
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“When we realized that, I ran up to the window, honestly, and I felt like I looked at the windshield for 30 minutes looking for movement, and I didn’t see any movement. So, I really didn’t feel like that was going to be a rescue situation. I thought it was going to be a recovery situation,” Whitley recalled.As they got up to the vehicle, the driver was responsive.
“He told me there were three occupants. Him, a passenger, and then a child in the backseat. And that’s when I definitely went into rescue mode, for sure. My buddy, coworker Colin, was pulling on the driver door we’re trying to get it open. He was bending it down, doing everything he could to get it open. I went to the rear door, and I was prying on it, and I was able to get rear door open,” Whitley said…