A 911 operator used the successful Clark Memorial Bridge rescue as a way to reassure the dangling truck driver in Louisville over the weekend. 

The truck driver crashed through a concrete barrier on Sunday, May 4th on southbound Interstate 65 in Louisville, Kentucky near the border. The crash left the cab of the semi truck dangling over the side of the bridge near Spaghetti Junction. 

The dangling truck driver quickly called 911 from inside of the truck cab, and that’s when the 911 operator began attempts to reassure him of his imminent rescue. 

“Will you guys please help me, I’m about to… I’m about to fall down from the bridge,” the driver said in the 911 call. “I’m just hanging over the bridge, I don’t want to die.”

“They’re going to get you out, OK? They’ve got so many people out there, OK?” the operator said. 

“If I don’t survive, can you leave the recording for my family?” the driver said, asking if the operator can stay on the call with him. “All I can see is the road below me.”

The driver stayed trapped for about 30 minutes, and during that time, the 911 operator tried to reassure the dangling truck driver by stating “I know they [LFD] can get you out, they’ve done it before. This happened about, I want to say, about a year and a half ago as well, and they got the person out,” referencing the March 2024 Clark Memorial Bridge rescue. 

The Louisville Fire Department Chief Brian O’Neil said to WHAS 11 that Sunday’s rescue was indeed similar to that infamous incident – the dangling truck driver was eventually rescued safe and sound in both instances.

Listen to the recent 911 call with a happy ending in the video below.