Witnesses tell of escapes and rescues

MINNEAPOLIS — Catherine Yankelevich was southbound on Interstate 35W, sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Mississippi River bridge when she felt it.

"I could kind of feel the bridge shake a little — it did a little shimmy," said Yankelevich, 29. "Then the bridge started falling, cars were flying everywhere, and I saw the water coming up.

"The water was coming up pretty fast, so I rolled the window down," said Yankelevich, who swam to shore. "It seemed like a movie, and it was pretty scary."

Marcelo Cruz, 26, of Crystal, Minn., also was on the bridge, headed to a wheelchair-racing class. "The bridge started shaking like an earthquake," he said.

He realized he had to stop or he would plunge into the water. He saw bridge workers clinging to the bridge, so he waited until he was past them and yanked the wheel to the right to stop himself against the outside barrier.

But Cruz's problems weren't over. He couldn't escape his vehicle because he can't move from his waist down. He was paralyzed by a shooting years ago. He heard a woman screaming for help, and he figured she was hanging from the bridge. "She was yelling, 'Help me, help me.' I couldn't do anything." Then he didn't hear her anymore.

Two men helped him out of his car and carried him and his wheelchair. "God saved my life a second time," he said.

Mary Logan, 70, of St. Paul, was in the back seat of a car with visiting relatives. She felt the car shaking. "We dropped three or four times," she said. "I was afraid the car would not stop, but thankfully it did." The car ended up rear end down, on top of another car.

"Someone yelled that we should get out," said her granddaughter Logan Winegar, 18. A passer-by on a bicycle helped them climb out.

Jeisy Aguiza, 13, was on a school bus with about 60 youngsters on a field trip to a water park. They were southbound on I-35W when the bridge collapsed.

The bus "just fell," she said. "... We were all screaming."

The bus landed on its wheels on solid ground. Children in the back opened the emergency door and rushed to safety.

"We were all just screaming, everyone," Jeisy said. "We all ran away from the bus. I'm just glad we didn't all fall in the Mississippi."