Trailer safety chain stops couple's pickup from plunging into Idaho gorge

When trucker Rod Drury pulled up to the wrecked camper on the Malad Gorge Bridge on I-84 near the Snake River in southern Idaho on Monday afternoon, he was sure it was the scene of a fatality. And it almost was. As he approached the wreck, he realized that over the edge of the bridge, still attached to the camper only by the trailer safety chain, was a Ford F-350 pickup, dangling nose down over the gorge.

Inside was the 67-year-old driver and his 64-year-old wife, from Garden City, Idaho, along with their two small dogs.

"I was like, I don’t even want to look over,” Drury said. An Idaho state trooper arrived as Drury did, and other first responders arrived quickly after. Together, they anchored more chains from the pickup to Drury's big rig.