Cyclist meets man who rescued him from giant snowblower
Last Updated: Thursday, March 27, 2008 | 1:16 PM ET
CBC News
A Montreal cyclist who was rescued from the blades of an industrial-sized snowblower last week was introduced to his saviour by CBC Radio Thursday morning.
Richard Abderrahmane was dragged almost 50 metres when he and his bicycle got trapped in the rows of blades that force snow into the machine.
Luckily, Montreal West resident Wayne Feeney saw the cyclist's predicament from his car at a nearby intersection.
"I thought what I saw was … garbage stuck in the side of his big intake, and then, a second later, the worst nightmare is that there was a body inside flopping around like a rag doll," said Feeney, who realized the snowblower operator couldn't see Abderrahmane and his bicycle.
"I just rushed out of my car, jumped up and down in front of the blower, not even thinking he could hit me, and luckily it stopped," Feeney said.
Police and firefighters arrived a short time later and freed Abderrahmane, who walked away from the accident with just a few scratches.
Feeney left the scene without meeting the man he had rescued — that is, until the two were reunited Thursday morning for an interview on CBC Radio.
"You could not believe what that looked like, seeing half your body sticking out of the front of this gigantic thing with these big screws — it was just horrific," Feeney said.
"Well, just to see my bike trapped under there when I was in the ambulance was bad enough," Abderrahmane said, adding that if Feeney hadn't intervened, he might not be around to tell the story.
Montreal police said they investigated what happened and ruled it an accident.
