Help us identify
Posted on November 12th, 2007 – 3:18 PMBy StarTribune.com Staff
The Star Tribune has identified the occupants of 78 of 84 cars, trucks and other non-construction vehicles, as well as six of the road construction workers. Tell us if you were one of the unidentified survivors, or know the driver of one of the unidentified vehicles.
9 Responses to "Help us identify"
You are missing Dan Schueller who was on his bike on West River Road when the bridge went down. Ironically Dan escaped death when he was stopped at a traffic light and picked up a ring he saw on the side of the road and put it on. The 15 seconds loss saved his life. When the bridge went down Dan got off his bike and helped rescue a number of drivers on that bridge. He was interviewed by the Strib but otherwise refused to talk to anyone else including CNN at that scence. He told his story at our Toastmasters club at the Met Council a few weeks later. To the best of my knowledge he has never received any recognition and knowing Dan I am not sure if he would want to. If you contact him (he works at the Met Council) please tell him that you received this from an anonymous source.
The ring he picked up from the side of the street was a skull, according to his story.
Thank you,
L. Mack
I’ve a question and am interesed in an answer. What was the bus doing on the bridge? I read or heard on the news that the bus was going from Coon Rapids to South Minneapolis. As far as I know, the most direct route is would be to cross the river on the 610, go down 252, get on 94, and then 35W. Can anyone provide this question?
Thanks,
Michael
i was sitting with my friend and we were really tired after coming from a swimming field trip with the Waite house and all of the sudden the bridge started shaking and we weren’t scared until the bridge started swaying left and right then there was a big drop so i ducked down covered my head and neck and i was just in shock i didin’t know what was happening, then Jeremy Hernandez helped all of the kids off the bus and i seen the bridge and i kept saying “the bridge just fell!”
My son and I watched and then witnessed the bridge collapse and immediately ran to the aid of the kids on the bus. We were there when the Tastee truck blew up. We helped the kids, leading them from the bridge collapse to spare them the sights. We brought them to the Red Cross building, did triage, and comforted them, until the last one left. We then stayed to help the Red Cross in distributing food/water/ice until 3 am that morning. We are moved by the everyday heros we witnessed that day, as well as the tragedy itself. We have quite the story to share.
I owned car 27 on the bridge. The Honda CR-V caught in the girders. My daughter was driving north on the bridge, to meet friends and to go to the Twins game. She survived.
This is a belated, and probably inadequate, response to Michael Stoll. I don’t know why the Waite House bus was taking 35W, rather than 94, but just looking at the map indicates that it wouldn’t be a huge detour for them to take the route they did. Perhaps they were making some calculation about getting stuck in rush hour traffic.
Im really not sure why this is any issue in regards to Michael Stoll’s comment. All the matters is that everyone is alive from that bus. Im greatly distraught by the lack of interest by the state in helping the victims. Everyone please email your legislature and let them know your feelings on this situation. ITS NOT JUST ABOUT BUILDING A NEW BRIDGE… What about the people whos lives were torn apart? Help these people please?
My daughter and I were in Minneapolis helping to care for my very sick mother who lives in NorthEast Minneapolis. We live in Rapid City, South Dakota. On August 1, 2007 we had a lot of family members visiting and we didn’t have enough food to feed everyone. So my sister asked if I would go to Cub Foods which is on the south-side of Minneapolis, because the food would be less expensive. As I was getting the money and grocery list from my sister, I looked at the clock and it was exactly 6:00 pm.
I told my daughter to come with me as I didn’t want to drive alone. But on the way, to the Interstate 35 at the Johnson Street entrance (which is only about a fiveminute drive), I started to think, it’s getting late and everyone is hungry, the gas I would be using to drive South-side, would make up the difference in the food price by shopping at this store. I told my daughter what I was thinking and she agreed. So we did our shopping at Rainbow Foods. When we came out of the store, we heard sirens and emergency vehicles rushing onto to the Interstate. The people standing in the parking lot at the food store were saying something pretty bad must have happened on the freeway. On our way back to my mother’s home, I turned on the radio and heard that Interstate 35 had collapsed.
A feeling ran through my daughter and I that I cannot express. We arrived home and to everyone’s relief, we were there in front of them. My sister told the other family members that she had told me to go South-side and do the shopping. So everyone was fearful we had taken that route.
I am so grateful that I didn’t listen to my sister and had listened to my inner spirit.
On August 1st this past Friday, my husband and I were eating our supper and we started talking about the bridge collapse and it brought back so many memories (good and bad). The tragedy is how so many people died and how so many were injured in an instant! We feel so bad for the families they left behind. Our prayers are with them and the families.
I realized then that my daughter and I had a divine intervention!!
Respectfully submitted.
I had tickets to the Twins Game for Thursday to take my Grand daughter. I watched on TV when this horrific event occured and was so thankful the tickets were for the next day. The game was cancelled and I drove back home to Breezy Point. My heart goes out to all the victims of this tragic accident and I Thank God it was not meant to be that Abbie and I be a part of it. We do need to spend money on the infrastructure of our wonderful state of Minnesota. This will give jobs to the middle class and our roads do need fixing. We have one of the best Public Education systems in the United States. We must be doing something right! Vote For Minnesota Smart and not Minnesota Nice. It is so easy for the RICH to think there is nothing wrong but let us think about What would Jesus Do? Sarah will like this. Judge not lest you be judged. All the greatest minds do not know what is happening so what makes you so brilliant?
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