Viral video: Bystanders rescue driver as truck teeters over MN River bridge

Had it not been for the heroic efforts of bystanders, the driver of a truck who crashed on an ice-covered bridge last week may have plunged into the Minnesota River. 

Few details about the incident are known, but a traffic camera from the Minnesota Department of Transportation shows the harrowing scene during the morning rush last Friday, Feb. 12, in Eagan, where the driver of a green pickup found the front end of his vehicle hanging over the edge of the Cedar Avenue Bridge. 

The driver was stuck in the cab until four bystanders came to his rescue, with two men placing heavy items in the bed of the truck, then three more individuals, including a Metro Transit bus driver, putting their weight onto the back of the truck while the driver climbed out of the passenger door to safety. 

There were three waves of light snow that moved through Minnesota last week, and all of them resulted in very slippery roads due to the snow, frigid temperatures and friction from tires causing black ice, according to MnDOT. 

Dustings of snowfall on Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings last week were a factor in a total of 884 crashes and 214 spinouts statewide in Minnesota, according to the State Patrol. 

An even more frightening scene unfolded recently in Wisconsin, when a driver plunged 70 feet from a bridge in the Milwaukee area. Miraculously, that driver survived.