An Oregon man narrowly escaped a massive saw blade that came hurtling toward him from a nearby construction site. Shane Reimche from Eugene, Oregon encountered the near-death situation as he entered a liquor store in the Quicktrips Neighborhood Market on Thursday, March 28. A surveillance footage shows Reimche’s miraculous escape as the blade of a concrete saw came rolling at lightning speed right at him. If only he had been a second late in getting into the building, he would have been smashed by the blade and died on the spot.
Man Breaks Down In Tears While Describing The Incident
The serrated blade hit the building just next to the liquor store door just seconds after Reimche entered the store. As Reimche walked into the shop, the blade was embedded in the wall. People around the neighborhood were quick to gather around him and the reporters arrived soon after. Reimche told the reporters that he “heard a loud bang” as he entered the shop, and it was accompanied by “yelling just as a cloud of smoke pops up.” He further added that he also found a guy “fall in the ditch” in between the scenes.
According to Reimche, the blade was 4 feet, big enough to slaughter him to pieces, however, he said that he was “luckily able to duck behind the corner” at the right time. Meanwhile, the store owner Amit Grewal told the outlet that the impact of the runaway blade was felt by everyone in the neighborhood. He further added that the rolling saw became wedged two feet into the wall and required three men to pull it out.
When asked about the incident, Grewal said: “I heard a metal rolling down from the street and I checked the CCTV, but only found wind. And, we heard a loud bang out of the blue which shook the whole store.”
As soon as the incident went viral, Reimche’s kids came running for their father to see whether he was okay or not, he told the outlet. The security video showing Reimche’s close encounter with the massive blade went viral on social media. His children as well came to learn about the incident via a Facebook clip.
“They (kids) saw it on Facebook and they came running to me and hugged me and we had a lot of cries,” Reimche said, adding that it was the closest (to death) he had ever experienced.
He also said that the incident had such an impact on him that it took him some time to be able to speak again and he further revealed in a conversation on Friday that he was having a hard time going to sleep since the Thursday incident.
“Oh my God, I had tears throughout the night,” he said while describing his experience as ‘petrifying.” He further stated that if the saw had touched him, he would not have survived.
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Reportedly, the blade escaped from a construction site from utility company Northwest Natural Gas, while the workers were fixing a leaky gas valve. According to the contractor on the site, there were also possibilities that the blade may have come loose from operator error. According to the statement released by the company, the incident “involved a contractor” and they have removed the contractor as of now.