Mpls. Man Escapes Car Crushed By Tree

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A young man heading out to dinner during Friday night's storm says he didn't see it coming. Bret Rademacher narrowly escaped being crushed by a falling tree in Minneapolis.

Physically he's fine - there's not a scratch on him, which is hard to believe when you see what's left of his car.

"It's mangled. It's destroyed," Rademacher said.

The weight of the tree and force of the wind popped the tires of Rademacher's car, and crushed the passenger side down to the car seat.

"I'm still a little shaky," he said.

Rademacher was driving near Powderhorn Park in the stormy weather when he heard a loud crunch.

At first he thought he ran into something.

"Kind of out of nowhere. I thought I hit something. But I kind of look up and I see there's a tree in my car," he said. "I just kind of remember not being able to get out. I couldn't open my door. I remember kind of looking around. I had to put it drive first."

When he got out of the car, Bret ran to a nearby house to get out of the rain. When he came back out and looked at what was left he was shocked.

"The first thing I thought is, I mean, it's so close. If it would've been inches one way or another or if I had left maybe a little earlier, I don't know what would have happened," he said.

Rademacher's thankful that nobody else was with him at the time and that he's around to tell his story.

"I feel really grateful, really blessed to be alive today," he said.