Oregon Man Jokes 'I Need a Beer' After He Narrowly Dodges Runaway Saw Blade from Construction Site
Shane Reimche avoided the massive blade by mere seconds while entering a store
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A stock image of a saw bladeA man in Eugene, Oregon, dodged a saw blade that came hurtling toward him as he entered a liquor store earlier this week.
As Shane Reimche was entering Quicktrips Neighborhood Market on Thursday, the blade of a concrete saw came loose at a nearby construction site and rolled right at him, surveillance footage obtained by local TV station KEZI 9 shows.
Just seconds after Reimche entered the store, the large, serrated blade hit the building just next to the door, becoming embedded in the wall.
As Reimche walked into the shop, he told KEZI 9 that he “heard a loud bang and yelling 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,” he added, noting that he was “able to duck behind the counter” last minute.
The impact of the runaway blade was felt by everyone in Quicktrips, owner Amit Grewal told the outlet.
He added that it became wedged 2 feet into the wall and took three men to remove.
“All I heard was a metal rolling down from the street, and I looked at the camera. It was just wind, and all of the sudden we heard a loud bang,” the shop owner told KEZI 9, adding that the impact “shook literally the whole store.”
After the security video showing Reimche’s close-call with the massive blade went viral, his kids were quick to make sure their father was okay, he told the outlet.
“They saw it on Facebook so they all came to my house and hugged me and had lots of cries,” he said, adding, "Obviously it wasn’t my time but probably [the] closest I’ve ever experienced. "
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Quicktrip Neighborhood Market in Eugene, OregonReimche also said that it “took a little while” for him to be able to speak again, and said he had a hard time going to sleep following the incident on Thursday.
“Oh my God, I had tears all night,” he told KEZI 9. “It was petrifying. I was shaking in the store.”
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He also told the outlet, “I don’t think I would’ve survived being touched by that thing.”
“I need a beer,” he added. “I'm still shaken. It's 9 o'clock. I'm not going to work today.”
On the construction site the blade escaped from, utility company Northwest Natural Gas was fixing a leaky gas valve, a contractor on the site told KEZI 9. The contractor, who witnessed the incident, also said the blade may have come loose from operator error.
In a statement, a communications director from Northwest Natural Gas told KEZI 9 that the incident “involved a contractor at a NW Natural job site.”
“We are reviewing our association with this contractor, and we have removed the contractor from other work for us for now,” the statement said.
Northwest Natural Gas did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
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