Minnesota hero uses bare hands to free driver of burning SUV

By Jonathan Kaminsky

(Reuters) - A Minnesota man used his bare hands to pry open a passenger-side door of a burning sport utility vehicle and save a trapped motorist from near-certain death, police said Tuesday.

The incident has left police marveling at the actions of Bob Renning, 52, who - apparently fueled by a burst of adrenaline - pried open the door of Minneapolis resident Michael Johannes's 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer on Sunday evening.

"To say his actions were heroic would be putting it lightly," said Lieutenant Eric Roeske, spokesman for the Minnesota State Patrol. "He almost certainly saved Mr. Johannes from a horrible death."

Renning was driving along an interstate freeway at about 6:30 p.m. CDT when he noticed the SUV on fire in a suburb north of Minneapolis, Roeske said.

After motioning for Johannes to pull over, Renning approached the burning vehicle, Roeske said.

Johannes, 51, tried to get out on his own, but the electrical system was disabled and he could not unlock the doors, Roeske said.

That is when Renning bent open the top of the passenger door, cleared the shattered glass from the window and pulled Johannes to safety, Roeske said. Soon after, the truck was entirely engulfed in flames.

Johannes escaped the incident with minor injuries, and the cause of the fire is not yet clear, Roeske said.

"Vehicle fires get hot incredibly fast and oftentimes the opportunity for rescue is very short," Roeske said. "It was a good thing Mr. Renning was there and able to pry that door open."

(Reporting by Jonathan Kaminsky in New Orleans; editing by Gunna Dickson)

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Driver is cited for using dummy in carpool lane

QUINCY, Mass. (AP) — A commuter heading into Boston had a real dummy along for the ride.

State Trooper John Carnell was working a paid detail in Quincy on Thursday morning when he saw a vehicle enter the carpool lane on Interstate 93 north with a suspicious-looking passenger.

Carnell pulled over the vehicle and found that indeed, the driver had propped up a jacket with a mannequin head on top in the passenger seat. The fake head even had a little mustache drawn on.

Vehicles using the lane must have at least two occupants.

The driver, whose name was not made public, has been issued a citation for operating on an excluded way.

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Ohio sinkhole swallows car; driver climbs ladder

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A northwest Ohio sinkhole has swallowed a car traveling down a street and briefly trapped the driver, who climbed out after authorities gave her a ladder.

Toledo police Sgt. Joe Heffernan says a water main break beneath the road may have caused the sinkhole Wednesday. The hole is estimated to be at least 10 feet deep.

Police say driver Pamela Knox didn't appear hurt but was shaken up and was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

Heffernan says Knox saw the vehicle in front of her start to slip into the hole but drive beyond it. He says Knox couldn't avoid it.

Officials used a crane to pull the car from the hole. Repairs to the road are expected to take days.

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Car splits in half in accident, driver disappears

A car split in half after hitting a power pole on Sunday morning in Des Moines, Iowa, and police say there is no sign of the driver and few clues as to who even owns the car, KCCI reports.

Police received an anonymous tip about the accident at around 3:45 a.m. Sunday. They arrived on the scene and found the car severed in two, with the back end of the red Pontiac Grand Am completely destroyed. The front end, however, was surprisingly well intact.

"The front doors, I was told, actually could be opened and closed without a problem. Given that information, it's not totally unlikely someone could have walked away from that accident," police spokesman Sgt. Jason Halifax told KCCI.

WHOTV.com reported that police searched the area for signs of the driver, but found none, and that the investigation is ongoing. "They searched the area for well over an hour, had a dog come in, the dog wasn’t able to find anything," Halifax said.

Police also checked local hospitals for anyone who might have injuries related to a car crash. That effort came up empty, too, according to WHOTV.com.

"What the officers do now is they go to that last person who had the vehicle registered to them and basically ask them, 'Where’s the car now? What did you do with the car? Did you sell it, loan it out? What happened with it?'" Halifax told WHOTV.com.

Police say the car didn't have license plates when it was discovered. Its last registration expired August 2012.

"I’ve never seen anything like this," Adam Garris of G & S Services, the company that towed the 2000 Pontiac Grand Am, told WHOTV.com. "That’s definitely one of the craziest accidents, one of the worst accidents I’ve seen."

UPDATE: Sgt. Halifax told Yahoo News that police have located the owner of the car. The owner told police she fell asleep and suspects a house guest took the car out without her permission. Halifax said the woman would not tell police who was in her house or who might have taken her vehicle.

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Snowplow driver covers cars and driveways — on purpose

The Snowplow driver calling Dogg has been ticking off a lot of people.

Mark Hussey, who sails the streets of Lowell, mass., for a private entrepreneur, made a video of himself as he buried in the white stuff and cars blocked driveways pushing back the snow shoveled out of them. The worst part: he is loving every minute of it.

The video, which was posted on YouTube, has caught the attention of the Web weary winter — and confirmed the fears of some people who Snowplow drivers make their lives more difficult on purpose, leaving the roads clear, but everyone else pretty much stuck.

Hussey shot himself through the windshield of his Snowplow on February 10 after a storm dropped 2 feet of snow on the area. The local Fox News station 25 interviewed 47-year-old, whose video showed the joy that took to do its job just a little bit too aggressive.

"Oh, sorry, it was car down there?" Dogg is heard at one point, as he buries a sedan in the snow. "Do you want to find your car? Come and see me, I'll let you know where is your car.

Needless to say, residents are not amused. The Bedard, who was digging the heels of Dogg said the Fox station, "is very aggravating. You want to throw a shovel at him. It is very aggravating. "

Dogg maintains that he is just doing his job, which is to widen the roads. And there is no doubt that he enjoys.

Says his video, "If you're plowing, so you're not having as much fun as I am."

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