Tuesday, June 15, 2010

U.S. trade rep Kirk hurt as loose ladder comes through windshield on I-30


U.S. trade rep Kirk hurt as loose ladder comes through windshield on I-30

12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, June 3, 2010

By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk said he is lucky to be OK after a freak accident sent a metal ladder through his car windshield Wednesday morning.

Kirk, the U.S. trade representative, was driving west on Interstate 30 near Belt Line Road at 11:20 a.m. when he saw the ladder fly from under a tractor-trailer and bounce off a median.

The ladder cut his left biceps as it came into his car.

"It was very scary," Kirk said by phone Wednesday evening. "I could not be more blessed to be here. ... Six inches to the right, six inches above, it's a very different story."

Kirk was released from Methodist Dallas Medical Center after receiving stitches. He said he did not suffer nerve or bone damage.

A passenger in the car was not injured, Grand Prairie police said.

Police said the ladder apparently fell off a vehicle a few minutes before Kirk drove through the area. The tractor-trailer traveling ahead of Kirk "struck the ladder, causing it to fly into the air and come down through the windshield," traffic Sgt. Eric Hansen said in a written statement.

Officers were already en route in response to a report of a ladder on the freeway when the accident occurred, Hansen said. The tractor-trailer driver did not stop.