MEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - A man narrowly escaped being crushed by a box truck when it slammed into a pickup truck in Medford on Saturday.
Marcelo Alves can be seen on video standing behind the pickup truck as the box truck barreled toward it.
He quickly jumped out of the way just before the box truck hit the pickup truck.
Jorge Gomes owns the property on Fellsway and said his workers were replacing the sidewalk. Gomes and the others heard the Penske truck hit the curb as the driver made a U-turn.
“From what I gather from the fire department, he accelerated to get off the curb, and that made it worse coming towards us,” he said.
Alves was standing in a flatbed at the time and did not notice right away what was happening.
“We started yelling, me and the co-workers, Get out! Get out,” Gomes said.
Alves said he only had a second to decide which way to jump.
“He realized when the truck came and hit the pickup behind him, he had like 12 feet distance, and that’s when he realized to jump off accordingly, not jumping to the wrong side,” a translator said for Alves.
The force of the impact was strong enough to send the pickup, full of 42 bags of cement, up onto the sidewalk.
“I am so relieved, looking back at the video and going through my mind,” Gomes said. “I don’t even want to think about it.”
Alves said he is thankful to be able to walk away.
“First he thanks God for saving his life and helping him making the right decisions and jumping off the truck in a way that he was spared.”
There were no reported injuries.
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