On a Wednesday morning, four OUC linemen were setting 50 foot poles in St. Cloud when they heard a loud bang. Line technician Justin Jackson had a bird’s eye view from the truck. A motorcycle and a car had collided.
“A motorcycle was in the far right lane and a car was in the left lane. [The car] swerved and flipped the motorcyclist, and I saw him fly in the air,” said Jackson.
The motorcyclist’s helmet flew off, and he landed on his head. The car dragged the motorcycle for a while until the driver realized what happened.
In no time, the OUC crew jumped into action. Jackson and Lead Line Technician Hector Ramos tended to the injured man while Line Technicians EJ Porter and Chase Crawford directed traffic. They worked with other bystanders to keep the scene as calm as possible for nearly 15 minutes until paramedics and authorities arrived. The motorcyclist was airlifted to a local hospital.
“Your natural reaction is to help. We’re human and we’re led off of the goodness in us,” said Jackson. “With this line of work, we have to be alert at all times. We were trained to do this sort of thing – we were just doing what needed to be done.”
Pictured above (from left): EJ Porter, Line Technician III; Chase Crawford, Line Technician III; Justin Jackson, Line Technician II; not pictured: Hector Ramos, Line Technician III.
