Man struck by drag racer going 100MPH in downtown Minneapolis
Click here for updates on this story
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (WCCO) — Weeks after being the victim of a drag racing crash, a Minneapolis man still doesn’t know when he’ll leave the hospital.
Last month, Jimmy Wahl was riding in a car that was rear ended by a driver going 100 miles an hour.
“He pulled up in front of my place and that’s the last of anything I remember being normal,” Wahl said.
What Wahl does remember is getting a ride home with his friends on the night of July 28, and then pulling up to his apartment on Washington Avenue. That’s when the unthinkable happened.
“Didn’t see anything coming just felt my car spinning around and around and all I saw was fire all around me,” Wahl said. “At this point now everything becomes surreal. Because I’m in this burning inferno.”
The driver that hit them was drag racing and investigators said he was going 100 miles an hour when the crash happened — trapping Wahl inside.
“I felt both my legs burning and I knew it was a matter of time. If I wasn’t able to get myself out of there I was going to die and I wasn’t able to get out of there myself,” Wahl said.
Luckily bystanders pulled him out and his friends were also freed. Wahl has been in the hospital ever since with broken ribs, broken shoulders blades and a broken vertebrae.
“Both of my legs suffered third degree burns between the shin and the knee,” Wahl said. “Lots of heroes that night. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here today.”
He is hoping to get out next week and before he does, he and his attorney are calling on the city to make downtown safer.
“I do believe it’s become crazy down there. It’s lawless,” Wahl said.
“If we had better support from the mayor’s office and the city council to have better enforcement of our traffic laws downtown, this could have been prevented,” said Joe Tamburino, Wahl’s attorney.
We reached out to city officials about the speeding in downtown Minneapolis, but they did not comment.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
