An 18-year old driver over in England is incredibly lucky to be alive following a high-speed incident that sent a wooden post through a windscreen of a BMW i8.
A local report revealed that the driver was under the influence of alcohol, and fleed on foot to a neaby village following the crash, only to be found by the police helicopter a short time later.
Inches from death; wooden post penetrates windscreen as drink driver crashes BMW i8 in Shifnal overnight 🍺❌
— OPU Shropshire (@OPUShropshire) June 22, 2020
2 Ambulances crews
4 Fire crews
5 #Police units
1 Police Helicopter
All required to locate and deal with the driver who escaped uninjured and was found hiding nearby... pic.twitter.com/E3LER7GaBs
In a tweet posted following the callout, police described the young man as being "inches from death" as the thick wooden post smashed through the windscreen, and travelled across to the passenger side of the cabin.
After arriving on the scene, and finding the car empty, the helicopter, five police crews, a dog unit, two ambulances and four sets of firefighters were all dispatched to hunt for the driver.
Police ended up having to use the helicopter's thermal imaging camera to locate the drunk driver, who was then taken into custody, but has since been released. Miraculously, he was found without injury.
A spokesperson from the local ambulance service said: “We were called at 1.08am to reports of a single vehicle road traffic collision with the car having left the road on Wolverhampton Road in Shifnal. Two ambulances and a paramedic officer attended the scene.
"However, on arrival there were no patients at the scene for us to treat and we were stood down.”