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Truck Driver In I-75 Bridge Crash Is 'Fighter,' Witness Says

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By JEFF PATTERSON

News Channel 8

Published: June 5, 2008

Bruce Humphrey didn't know the driver's name, but as he watched the tanker truck fall over the bridge and burst into flames on the road below, one thing quickly became clear: the man was a fighter.

"I was standing back from it, but that man wanted to live and he was crawling and struggling and he couldn't use one arm, I don't know if he broke it or it was burnt, but he was screaming for help," Humphrey said today.

The man was truck driver Raymond Neumann, 54, of Brooksville. The accident happened on Interstate 75 in northern Manatee County after he swerved to avoid a driver who had lost control of his vehicle.

Neumann was flown to Tampa General Hospital with severe burns, where he was listed in critical condition late Wednesday. At his family's request, no further information on his condition was released today.

Humphrey and Phil Joy, both heavy machine operators for a Manatee County construction company, had just exited I-75 in their pickup and were getting onto U.S. 301 when the wreck unfolded in front of them.

When the tanker plowed through the guardrail and fell onto U.S. 301 below, "it split open and then it exploded," Humphrey said.

"It was a tornado under the bridge, the flames were whipping around in a circle like this, and it would shoot over that way and shoot over this way, and it was just going back and forth, you couldn't even see the truck," Humphrey said.

Things got worse from there.

"I looked over and we could see the man crawling on the ground and he was on fire. The fire was actually chasing him and he was trying to crawl away from the fire."

When the tanker truck exploded, its cargo of gas mixed with diesel from the truck engine, creating a fire the Department of Transportation estimated eventually reached more than 1,800 degrees. Smoke from the inferno could be seen for miles, and the heat broke down the structural integrity of the bridge, which will need to be replaced.

Miraculously, Neumann survived the fall and explosion and was able to pull himself from the truck. As he staggered, burning, away from the wreckage, Humphrey ran to help, positioning himself behind a concrete pillar to shield himself from the heat.

"I was able to reach around and grab him by the leg and pull him maybe six feet or something," Humphrey said.

Joy calls Neumann "the miracle man." He says the driver stumbled and rolled on the ground for at least 25 yards as he struggled to get away from the burning truck.

"He come out of the truck and I saw him coming out and scooted, and I kept hollering for him to keep going and one time he stopped, but I thought I was going to lose him."

Joy said he hopes his and Humphrey's presence helped Neumann muster the will to keep going despite the pain and flames.

"You need to know that somebody is there to help when you're in a condition like that."

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