Colorado police officer Sgt. Greg Miller is feeling so lucky after his cruiser fell into a sinkhole that he may go buy a lottery ticket. But mostly, he’s just glad it happened to him.
The cruiser is a total loss, but Miller wasn’t hurt, according to KUSA.
“I’d rather it be me than somebody — a citizen — driving down the road or kids in the car. Or, you’ve got two vehicles, and the other vehicle is on top of the other vehicle, and you’ve got even more injuries… you’ve got people trapped. I mean, I’m glad it was me than anybody else.”
Miller’s car was removed from the sinkhole via crane on Friday, the Associated Press reported.
Sinkhole swallows police SUV in Colorado, sending it 10 feet down into hole http://t.co/ZsxzRae420 pic.twitter.com/XxKgaFIih4
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) June 5, 2015
Sergeant pulls himself out of Colorado sinkhole after SUV falls through: http://t.co/c9xQzlG6I2 pic.twitter.com/ZnozDbv95X
— ABC 10News San Diego (@10News) June 5, 2015
Hail from southwest Denver – http://t.co/ilzoZcIPWk #cowx pic.twitter.com/OGqYpP8nh9
— Rebecca Risch (@rebeccarisch) June 5, 2015
Reader photos: Storms in Northern Colorado. Tweet us your photos to be featured in the gallery http://t.co/tI6nycap3S pic.twitter.com/PSs68qgtmf
— Coloradoan (@coloradoan) June 5, 2015
Dozens of homes destroyed as tornadoes sweep across Colorado http://t.co/7TBsaOVLLQ pic.twitter.com/6obkViyBo2
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) June 5, 2015
Photo gallery: #Tornado rips apart neighborhood in Colorado. @9NEWS http://t.co/IPQDuJ5TSS pic.twitter.com/Fgrc3r7Gz8
— USA TODAY Weather (@usatodayweather) June 5, 2015
The harrowing tale is just one of many emerging since violent storms have lashed the entire state of Colorado. Tornadoes touched down and flattened homes, hail has fallen so thick people needed shovels to dig out of it, and seven inches of rain pummeled the Rockies.
And more bad weather is coming to Colorado.
Thanks to all that rain, a stormwater pipe broke under the road in Sheridan, Colorado, creating the sinkhole. Friday afternoon, Miller was on patrol, then suddenly the road fell away beneath him and he found himself 15 feet underground.
“Next thing I know… dirt – I’m assuming dust from the airbag – was floating around and everything. I hear the rushing water, and all I see is a dirt wall in front of me. The door wouldn’t open, so I had to crawl through the window. I reached up, grabbed the rails at the top of the roof, pulled myself up, got on top of the car, and that’s when I reached up and pulled myself up out of the hole.”
The New York Daily News reported that the officer’s radio was broken, and so was unable to call for help. Once he crawled out of the sinkhole, he flagged someone down and was taken to the hospital , where he was treated for cuts and bruises to his face, arms, and one of his shins.
Since the sinkhole has exposed a gas line, the road is closed off.
After that kind of bad luck, the Colorado cop is certainly due for the good kind.
[Photo Courtesy Twitter]
