AN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA MAN who was walking with his wife to a neighborhood restaurant was killed when a car struck a nearby fire hydrant and it propelled into him.

The Oakland Tribune reports that:

When the SUV smashed into the hydrant, the impact broke the hydrant from the ground and launched it at a 45-degree angle toward Hernandez, who was about 10 feet away walking northbound on same side of the street. Police are not sure if the hydrant might have skipped off the pavement before hitting 5-foot-6 Hernandez in the back of his head.

“He was walking a bit ahead of his wife and then, all of a sudden, he is in the line of fire,” Bermudez said.

After hitting Hernandez, the hydrant still had enough velocity to ricochet through a fence before stopping.

The police report that if he had been one step ahead, or one step behind, it would have missed him.

Read the full story HERE.

Note:  I believe that Oakland has wet-barrel hydrants, which would explain the propulsion effect. - Firegeezer.

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