Dashcam video of Lowe's truck crash going viral

A dashcam video of a Cape Girardeau wreck involving a Lowe’s truck is going viral, and a Cape Girardeau man was approached by three firms hoping to help him negotiate the rights to the video.

Cape Girardeau resident Robert Orr was stopped in the left-turn lane of Highway 74 at Kingshighway on his way to pick up an insurance card, and later to look for fossils, when the wreck unfolded before him.

His dashcam captured the accident, showing the truck apparently running a red light and a red vehicle slamming into the truck broadside, sending the truck onto its side and careening into vehicles waiting in the left-turn lane on Highway 74.

Orr said two men in the truck walked away with little or no injuries, though he said the driver was distraught over the accident.

The woman in the vehicle that hit the Lowe’s truck, he said, was put into an ambulance on a stretcher, but she was sitting up and on her phone.

A report on the accident had not been filed to the Missouri State Highway Patrol website as of Tuesday afternoon.

Attempts to get more information from the Cape Girardeau Police Department were unsuccessful Monday and Tuesday afternoon.

Orr said he always drives with the dashcam after seeing videos online of scam artists trying to cause accidents in which proof of fault can’t be presented without video.

He said when the accident occurred, time slowed while his mind processed whether to try to put his vehicle in reverse to avoid the truck. But in a split second, he decided against it because he didn’t have time to look behind him. He said the crash, on video, seemed to happen much faster.

He shared the video with police, he said, which “should make their jobs a lot easier.”

He also posted it on Reddit, and from there, the video views racked up in a hurry. As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 122,000 people had viewed the video.

He was contacted by three firms who monitor video activity on the web who wanted to help him negotiate rights fees with different outlets.

He said the video will remain on YouTube, and he retains the copyright to the video.

Orr’s vehicle was damaged, but not by a vehicle. A sign was knocked into his Subaru, denting the hood and damaging his windshield.

“I recommend everybody get a dashcam,” he said. “But not because a video can go viral, but for your own protection about what might happen.”

bmiller@semissourian.com

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