Steel beam crushes car on Las Vegas highway, killing police detective

[MechAg94]

https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article262463122.html
That is an accident you don't see every day.

A 45-year-old police detective died when a falling steel beam crushed his car on a Las Vegas highway, Nevada authorities reported.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article262463122.html#storylink=cpy

Construction equipment hauled by the big rig struck a steel beam under an overpass in a construction zone, KVVU reported. The collision dislodged the beam, which fell on Terry’s vehicle, killing him, Nevada State Police told the station. The semi driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators.

I have heard of an overpass knocking something off a truck into another car, I have never heard of the truck dislodging a beam from the overpass causing it to fall.   

[BobR]

The beam was there during construction to warn drivers if their load was too high for the underpass. From what I heard an arm on the backhoe on the trailer hit the warning beam dislodging it.

The beam is an early warning system to let drivers know the height of a bridge or overpass, said Justin Hopkins who is a public information officer with NDOT. He said they are put up whenever a new bridge or overpass is built.

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/live-us-95-southbound-closed-at-northern-215-due-to-crash/

Once again we are reminded the difference between life and death can often be measured in seconds.


bob

[230RN]

The same thing happened a couple of years ago here in COmmierado when a beam suddenly decided to fall down just as a car full of family came by at highway speeds, taking the top half of the car (and the passengers) away. I believe there was a toddler in the car who survived.

And wasn't there something similar in Florida a couple of years ago when an overpass collapsed near the University, taking out a few more folks?

I think Jayne Mansfield got nearly decapitated when her car went under a truck with no bumper.  I am told that was the origin of the Mansfield Bumper (or "Bar?"), which was a heavy bar down low to minimize damage, like a regular low car bumper. Apparently there is more than one story about that accident.

[MechAg94]

The overpass in Florida had some design issues and failed.  Just dropped down on car that were stuck in traffic I think.  It wasn't hit by anything. 



I thought Jayne Mansfield was decapitated in that wreck. 

I remember my Dad telling me once he was driving on a farm road near Victoria, TX early in the morning headed to a job.  He ended up slamming on the brakes as an 18 wheeler gravel truck had decided to try to U-turn in the middle of the road.  It was perpendicular to the road when he came up on it.  He felt he was lucky to realize what it was as their aren't any lights in the middle of the truck. 

[WLJ]

I thought Jayne Mansfield was decapitated in that wreck. 

According to wiki no

Reports that Mansfield was decapitated are untrue, although she suffered severe head trauma.[314] This urban legend started with the appearance in police photographs of the crashed car with its top virtually sheared off, and what resembled a blonde-haired head tangled in the car's smashed windshield. However, Mansfield's death certificate, which states her immediate cause of death to be "crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain," rules this out.[315] The identity of the head-like shape has not been definitively determined, but it is debated to have been either a wig that Mansfield was wearing or carrying, the top portion of her real hair and scalp, or "something else entirely."[316] After her death, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended requiring an underride guard (a strong bar made of steel tubing) on all tractor-trailers; the trucking industry was slow to adopt this change. In America, the underride guard is sometimes known as a "Mansfield bar", or an "ICC bumper".[317][318]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Mansfield#Death

[230RN]

^ Thanks, really, not sarcastically, for doing what should have been my job.  Appreciate it, really.

Now, despite the tragedy, just to lighten the mood, here's  that famous picture of Mansfield and Sophia Loren together.



Terry, entering his third or fourth (lost count) childhood: "Nyuh-huh-hun-huuh-giggle-teenaged-snort-nyuh-huh," 230RN

Pic credit tee hee hee in Properties.

[MechAg94]

Thanks for the correction.  I never saw anything about it beyond the usual mentions on TV. 

[WLJ]

^ Thanks, really, not sarcasticaslly, for doing what should have been my job.  Appreciate it, really.

When you said "I think" I got curious since I believe I've heard the same thing before.