By Chris Fleszar and Nick Monacelli
WZZM13-TV
Copyright 2008 WZZM13-TV
COOPERSVILLE, Mich. — A Coopersville paramedic is recovering from injuries he received when he was hit by a car over the weekend. Jim Schippers was treating a patient during Sunday’s 50-vehicle accident on I-96 near Coopersville when he was also hit.
Police dispatch tapes, obtained by WZZM 13, demonstrate how chaotic things were at the time of the crash. Dispatcher: “It’s real treacherous out here. We need some medics up this way. It’s Right underneath the bridge we’ve got multiple injuries.”
Cars piled up quickly as white-out conditions blinded drivers. Dispatcher: “We have extra personnel coming out with backboards,” Jim Schippers began his career as a paramedic 32 years ago, but says he’s never seen anything like what happened on Sunday, “I was throwed back. I don’t know if I flew. I was throwed back and hit my back against a car and just went down on the ground.” He goes on to say, “I heard the crash, and as I looked there was a big crowd of smoke and debris in the air, and I got hit at the same time.”
Full Story: Schippers was treating victims at the very front when cars piled up