SPOKANE, Wash. — Washington State Patrol Sergeant Gregory Riddell says it's a first in his career.
"It is, it's shocking," Sgt. Riddell said. "It's probably one of the most unusual things I'd put in my category of my 29 years."
He's talking about what he's only seen in video and photos from August 30 of what's undoubtedly the ride of one man's life. In fact, Sgt. Riddell says he didn't believe it when the calls started rolling in around 2:30 that Friday afternoon.
"We had several people calling 911," he explained.
"Honestly can't even remember," laughed Lauren Carson, describing what she told a dispatcher. "Just that a guy had hitched a ride on a semi and was getting on the freeway."
Carson was one of several callers and witnesses who saw the man near the Altamont exit of the I-90. Witness Kyle Johnson said the man was "panhandling" in and out of traffic before boarding his freeway-bound ride.
"He was just walking around asking people for a lighter, then hitched a ride on the semi as the light turned green," Carson said.
She filmed the incident on her phone but then got scared when she and others in the car realized the semi was getting on the on-ramp. Luckily, Sgt. Riddell says those other drivers flagged down the semi-driver to pull over. The man jumped off before troopers arrived and scaled a ten-foot wall.
"It's kind of like a Marvel comic, Peter Parker Spiderman," Sgt. Riddell said.
The man has not been caught as of Tuesday.
Whether this was just a harrowing hitchhiking or something else remains to be determined. "Well, I call it extremely dangerous," Sgt. Riddell said. "I don't know if it was a stunt. Don't know if it was someone trying to hitch a ride."
He's not even sure if the man realized he may be in for a long haul at freeway speeds. The semi didn't stop until the Argonne exit.
"Quite some distance of travel at freeway speeds. About a mile-and-a-half, two miles," he said. "But you can imagine at 60 miles an hour, cars going by and one slip, that's a fatal collision."
It goes without saying this isn't only dangerous, Sgt. Riddell reminds everyone it's illegal.