These stories had more twists and turns than a Hollywood blockbuster!
We had to hold on to our breath covering these stories as they are they most heart-stopping of 2022.
In January, video of a road rage incident in Miami was released. Police say Eric Popper cut off another car, whose driver can be heard honking his horn. Popper glared at the rearview mirror. He says the other driver tailgated him and made obscene hand gestures. Moments later, Popper opened his center console and removed a handgun and cops say he fired 11 times. If you look closely, you can see the other driver apparently throw a water bottle at the car. Popper says he thought he was being fired upon and was acting in self-defense.
Video from April shows the moment of impact when a speeding Ford Mustang hit a school bus full of middle school students. Kids climbed out of windows and the emergency door to safety. Witnesses also came to assist. The bus driver and seven students were sent to the hospital for their injuries.
In June cameras caught a Virginia school bus crash. Police say a Ford F-150 overcorrected after veering off the road, then slammed into the bus. The driver tried to maintain control of the vehicle but the bus flipped onto its passenger side and slid into a ravine. Bystanders rushed to the aid of the students and adults. The five special needs students and two adult workers were treated at area hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.
Also in June, a car driving the wrong way hit a woman and her baby as she pushed the child in a stroller. They flew up into the air and crashed down onto the car. The woman, Rachel, tried to move the stroller with her son strapped inside out of the car's path. Her son, Charlie, had a tire mark on the back of his head. Rachel was scraped up and injured three discs in her back. A good Samaritan who saw what happened crashed his truck into the 16-year-old fleeing driver. The driver pleaded guilty to assault and hit and run, and was sentenced to five to seven months at a juvenile detention camp.
In another June incident caught on camera, a man spent Father’s Day protecting his child from a gunman at a gas station in Detroit. The suspect opened the door, pulled out a gun and clip from his pants, inserted the clip, and pointed it at a man inside who was holding a baby. The protective dad immediately reacted, swatting the gun away and then running further into the store as the gunman retreated outside. The suspect then backed away, turned around, and left. Afterward, a person of interest was taken into custody.
Rebecca Clarke was hiking in a Texas state park in October when she came upon a herd of bison. She waited for them to pass.
“I just thought well, I'd already passed them two miles ago and then I came back through and I felt competent about it,” she later told Inside Edition.
At first, the bison ignored her. But as Rebecca got closer, one bison turned and growled before charging her. She dropped her phone as the beast pierced her in the back, and sent her into a thorny bush.
“It felt like a truck hitting you. He gored me he hooked me with his horn flipped me up almost like kind of backwards, kind of flipped me up and then projected me forward into a mesquite bush,” she said.
With limited cell phone service to call 911, she texted her son. Rebecca spent six days in the hospital with a large gash on her back. She says she was lucky she wasn’t killed.
In November, cops showed up to a trailer after learning about a suspect wanted for an out-of-state warrant. Police say the woman who lives in the trailer told the three officers that no one was inside, and gave them permission to enter and search it. Things quickly went left once they realized the suspect was hiding in a storage space underneath a bed. He appeared to immediately start firing once one of the officers lifted up the mattress. Flying debris hit one officer in the face, and he was treated and released from a local hospital. The suspect was killed in the gunfire exchange.
A miracle happened in November when an SUV went airborne and flew over a car driven by a priest on his way to church. Father John Bok was in the white Hyundai on his way to Sunday Mass. The driver of the SUV had a seizure and lost control. He had no idea what had happened and went on to deliver mass. Afterward, a police officer showed him the surveillance video. The pole the driver hit helped them avoid collision.
In November, security at a Buffalo, New York, substance abuse treatment center stepped up when a man walked into the lobby with an AR-15. An unarmed guard went straight for the gunman. The guard wrestled him into a corner, pinned him up against the wall and then dragged him outside before other guards came to help. Cops say the incident was an attempted robbery for drugs. The suspect was arrested and charged with several felonies.
Related Stories
