Oregon Man Narrowly Escapes Being Gored By Runaway Saw Blade

A man in Eugene, Oregon, is thanking his lucky stars after narrowly escaping being gored by a runaway saw blade on Thursday. (Watch the video below.)

Shane Reimche was entering a local market when a 4-foot saw blade running at a nearby construction site came loose and hurtled toward the store’s front door.

“I was walking into the store here, I put my hand on the door and I heard a loud bang and yelling,” Reimche told Eugene ABC affiliate KEZI TV. “Just as a cloud of smoke pops up and I see a guy fall in the ditch. And a 4-foot blade hurtling at me.”

The errant saw blade ended up lodged in the store wall just inches from where Reimche just stood.

The building felt the impact, store owner Amit Grewal said.

“We were standing behind the counter. All I heard was metal rolling down the street,” he said. “It was just wind. All of a sudden we heard a loud bang. It shook the whole store.”

The saw blade was wedged 2 feet into the store’s wall and required three men to remove it, according to People.

A contractor at the construction site told KEZI that workers were fixing a leaky gas valve, and suggested operator error caused the blade to spin out of control.

A communications director from Northwest Natural Gas told the station that the incident “involved a contractor at a NW Natural job site,” and said that contractor has been removed from other work for the company while the incident is reviewed.

Meanwhile, Reimche was still shaken up about the incident when interviewed Friday.

“Oh my god, I had tears all night. It was petrifying. I was shaking in the store,” he told KEZI. “Took a little while before I could talk. That thing was huge. You can see the hole in the wall.”

His kids were also shocked when they saw the video and “they all came to my house and hugged me and had lots of cries.”

He added: “Obviously it wasn’t my time but probably closest I’ve ever experienced.”

Reimche then suggested how he was going to deal with the freak accident.

“I need a beer. I’m still shaken,” he said. “It’s 9 o’clock. I’m not going to work today.”

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