FCA's Design Boss Heroically Intervened At An Accident Scene, Using A Jeep

A huge multi-vehicle crash in the outskirts of Detroit earlier this month had devastating consequences, leaving the 57-year-old passenger of a Ford Fiesta dead. However, it could have been worse were it not for a bystander: Ralph Gilles, Fiat Chyrsler’s Global Product Design chief.

The initial accident was triggered when a Ford Edge driven by a 36-year-old man of nearby St. Clair - who later admitted drink driving - crossed the centre line and hit a Ford Fiesta head-on. Shortly after, a Buick LeSabre struck the Fiesta and pushed it into the Edge, which then caught fire. The Edge driver had manage to exit his vehicle, but the occupants of the Fiesta were trapped.

Gilles arrived at the scene of the accident just before this and had been trying to rescue the trapped Fiesta occupants to no avail, and was moving his Jeep Wrangler out of the way as the LeSabre hit. It was then he decided to move the burning Edge out of the way, by shunting it with the Wrangler.

“I still have no idea where that [thought] came from,” he told the Oxford Leader, adding, “The only thing I can remember thinking [is] I’ve got a Jeep, it’s got a bumper on it, I think I can do this. All I could think about were the two people still inside the other car.”

Gilles was happy to praise his Jeep for its part in the rescue (“had I been in my Challenger, I wouldn’t have had the traction to do it,” he said), but refused to label himself a hero. Very humble, but also nonsense - Gilles has rightly been lauded by the motoring press and by the local fire chief, who told the Oxford Leader: “That guy did a pretty heroic thing…I think the guy did a great job. It could have been worse.”

57-year-old Misty Considine lost her life in the accident, while her 60-year-old husband was taken to hospital after being removed from the stricken Fiesta by firefighters. He was last reported to be in “stable” condition, while the LeSabre and Edge drivers suffered only minor injuries. The latter gave a voluntary blood sample following the crash, and has been released from jail until further investigation has taken place.