Pittsburgh couple who survived bridge collapse thought they were going to die, twice

A Pittsburgh couple in a red pickup truck cheated death twice as the Forbes Avenue bridge collapsed Friday and crashed to the ground with their truck still on it.

Ten people were injured in the collapse, including Tyrone and Velva Perry, both 69, of Pittsburgh.

An estimated 14,000 motorists daily drove the bridge over Fern Hollow in Frick Park — a major artery connecting Squirrel Hill, Regent Square and Wilkinsburg.

The Perrys were on that bridge early Friday to travel to the home of Tyrone Perry’s 93-year-old mother when the nearly 500-foot-long bridge buckled like a “V,” said Erin Perry, of Pittsburgh’s East End, one of the Perry’s three children.

But her parents’ truck still hugged the road.

When the middle of the bridge plummeted more than 100 feet and hit the ground, the windshield cracked and airbags deployed. Both were wearing seatbelts.

“My father described when he saw the bridge buckling, he thought he was going to die,” Perry said.

Seconds later, Perry’s father thought he and his wife were going to lose their lives again.

During the collapse, a vehicle flew past the Perrys’ truck. Then another car tumbled toward the couple and landed on its side just feet from them, she said.

“They’re alive and there’s some humor to that,” Perry said. “It’s so outrageous that this would happen, it was like a scene from an action movie.”

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A crash victim in one of the cars jumped out to reach the Perrys to see if they were all right. The couple had to exit their vehicle quickly because the Port Authority police told them the bridge collapse had ruptured a gas line.

The Perrys walked to where the bridge met the ground.

But Velva Perry was in too much pain to walk farther. It turned out that both she and her husband had broken the same vertebrae in their backs.

“The Port Authority police and one of the other drivers carried my mother from the bridge to a bench,” Erin Perry said.

Then another driver gave Tyrone Perry his coat to keep him warm.

“There was a rise of so much love,” Erin Perry said. “The world is in chaotic disarray and this brought out the best in people. Love was the dominant force.”

Perry’s parents were taken to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Oakland, where they were treated and released the next day. Velva Perry suffered a second vertebrae fracture.

The Perrys made it out alive but the bridge collapse was a traumatic experience for the couple, their daughter said.

“My father says that every time he closes his eyes, he sees the bridge collapsing, and my mother is still experiencing a feeling of falling,” Erin Perry said.

The couple is still in a lot of pain, she said, “but they are positive and in good spirits.”

Family members are caring for the couple and plan to have them medically reevaluated, Perry said.

“They need physical, mental and emotional support — all of it,” she said.

Perry set up a GoFundMe account for their medical and other expenses on Saturday.

The goal was to raise $5,000. Donations to the fund were more than $20,000 as of Monday night.

“Humanity is rising to shower love and prayers on our entire family,” Perry said. “It’s a testimony on the fortitude of the human spirit.”