Driver Injured by Concrete Chunk: 'I'm Pretty Lucky'

Earlier today Dan Sinner was traveling along the same stretch of Interstate 494 that he drives everyday to work, when out of nowhere a large chunk of concrete slammed down on the hood of his car, broke into three pieces and then burst through his windshield.

“It was scary,” Sinner said. “A piece hit me square in the face, broke my nose and cut my lip.”

Just after 9 a.m. Tuesday, a boom truck hit the underside of the Highway 7 bridge that spans Interstate 494, sending chunks of concrete flying into the air. It was one of those chunks that smashed into Sinner’s Hyundai Veracruz as he drove directly behind the boom truck.

“Literally just before the truck hit the bridge…in my head I was thinking, ‘That’s is an odd looking truck, its crane is sort of high,” Sinner told Patch.

The boom truck’s driver, Myron Lesley, 51, told investigators that he had forgotten to drop down the boom after his last delivery. The incident is still under investigation by the Minnesota State Patrol. 

Sinner, who lives in Eagan but drives to his job in Plymouth, was on the phone with his 8-year-old son at the time of the accident.

“I tried to stay calm,” Sinner said, remembering the incident. “All I heard was ‘Dad Dad.’ So I said ‘I’m okay.’”

Sinner was okay, but only barely. The largest of the three chunks that crashed through his windshield, he said, narrowly missed him. Instead, that piece hit the passenger seat.

“That rock could have just as easily hit me,” Sinner said. 

Immediately after the accident Sinner was able to pull over and call 911.

“I was very aware of what was going on around me but I was dazed,” he said.

By the time a Minnesota State Patrol trooper arrived on the scene moments later, Sinner said he was still in shock.

“I hadn’t even put my car in park yet, I was so shaken,” Sinner remembered. “I couldn’t even stand up when I tried to get out.”

Sinner was taken by ambulance to Methodist Hospital with non-life-threatening facial injuries, where he was treated and released.

After his hospital visit, Sinner got a chance to come face-to-face with the concrete chunk that hit him earlier this morning.

Then he took it home with him.

“Maybe I’ll put it in a shadow box,” he joked.

Sinner said that while Tuesday’s accident was frightening, he’s choosing not to focus on the negative. 

“You can see the glass as half empty or half full—the glass is half full,” he said. “I’m going to celebrate my son’s birthday tomorrow…with cake and ice cream.”

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For a detailed story on that accident, click