Mark Megahan
The young receptionist at a car dealership in Sao Paulo, Brazil never thought she would need hazardous duty pay for answering the phone. She’s used to dealing with irate customers and gropey salesmen. The last thing she was expecting was someone dropping a Volkswagen on her.
Danger, falling car
This video is so horrifying it simply had to go viral. Security camera footage captured the moment “a vehicle driven by an unlicensed man working at a Brazil car dealership toppled onto a 19-year-old receptionist working about 20 feet below.”
If you’re going to put cars on display up in the rafters, it’s a good idea to have an experienced driver who at least has a license to move them into position.
The 29-year-old contract lot attendant “was driving back from a car wash Monday.”
Not familiar with the ins and outs of driving precariously along catwalks suspended in the air, “he lost control of the vehicle on the second floor of the Volkswagen dealership.” Gravity took it from there.
Gracefully flopping over on it’s back, the white car narrowly misses totally crushing the unsuspecting receptionist. She appears to have been smashed between the trunk of the VW and her desk.
CNN Brazil is reporting that she “suffered multiple fractures and was flown by chopper to a local hospital.” Another 20-year-old worker also sustained minor injuries.
Driver faces charges
Toppling backwards off the second floor of a car dealership wasn’t the worst thing that happened to the driver that day. He “suffered a fractured leg in the terrifying incident” and police followed him to the hospital.
He’s now looking at “charges of causing physical injuries while driving unlicensed or disqualified.” Not that he had any choice. When el Jefe says move the Volkswagen there, you move it there. License or no license.
The falling car incident happened back on September 27 but the news reports had to surface first in Australia before they got picked up by the English language press and circulated around the rest of the world.
Hopefully, responsible industry executives will take note of how the incident happened and safety measures can be put in place to prevent it from happening in the future.
The car dealership involved in the mishap issued a formal statement apologizing for what happened and insisting it “regrets” the unfortunate accident and was “giving all the necessary support to the victims.”
They also admit the whole thing “remains under investigation.”
