Terrifying footage shows the moment an Oregan man dodged death by a second when a runaway saw blade hurtled towards him across a parking lot.
Shane Reimche entered the Quick Trip Market in Eugene on Thursday, closing the door behind him only for the blade to embed itself into the wall, shaking the entire shop.
The four-foot blade had come loose from a nearby construction site and barreled towards Reimche, gathering speed as it slipped between parked cars in the lot.
‘I mean, obviously it wasn’t my time but probably closest I’ve ever experienced,’ Reimche told ABC News after the frightening ordeal.
‘I was walking into the store here, I put my hand on the door and I heard a loud bang and yelling here at the corner,’ he recalled.
Shane Reimche entered the Quick Trip Market in Eugene on Thursday just moments before a runaway sore blade sliced into the building’s wall
The four-foot blade hit the wall of the Quick Trip Market and embedded itself in the wood
‘Just as a cloud of smoke pops up and I see a guy fall in the ditch, and four-foot blade hurtling at me.
‘Last minute I was able to duck behind the counter,’ he explained.
CCTV footage from inside the store shows Reimche looking back into the parking lot, seeing the blade coming at him and ducking swiftly to his left behind the store wall.
The surveillance footage also shows the walls shake as the blade struck the wall to the alarm of those inside.
‘We were standing behind the counter, all I heard was metal rolling down the street,’ said Amit Grewa, the store’s owner, who was serving customers at the time.
‘[I thought] It was just wind, all of a sudden we heard a loud bang. It shook the whole store.’
The construction site where the blade escaped from was dealing with a leaky gas valve at the intersection of Hilyard Street and east 24th Avenue.
The project was overseen by Northwest Natural Gas and two contractors, Brix Paving Northwest and Integrity Traffic.
The four-foot blade had come loose from a nearby construction site and barreled towards Reimche, gathering speed as it slipped between parked cars in the lot.
The visible damage to the store shows the power with which the blade struck the wall
Footage from inside the store shows the walls shake to the alarm of those inside
‘This incident involved a contractor at a NW Natural job site’ Northwest Natural Gas said in a statement.
‘We are reviewing our association with this contractor, and we have removed the contractor from other work for us for now. ‘
A contractor on the scene, who witnessed the incident, told ABC News the runaway blade may have become loose due to a missing bolt or there could have been a potential operator error.
‘I had tears all night. It was petrifying. I was shaking in the store,’ Remche said the next day.
‘It took a little while before I could talk. That thing was huge you can see the hole in the wall.
Adding: ‘I’m thankful to be here. I was thinking maybe it’s my time, I don’t think I would’ve survived being touched by that thing.