Copyright ©1996-2008 Environmental Encroachment (EE)

WOW IS this page popular, remember, these images our property and copyright of EE. It is amazing that every time I check the web stats, these pictures and this page are always in the top ten. Well, these are real, and we are all still alive as of 2008 to tell about it.

EE had been invited to perform for the opening of the now quasi-famous Defenestration sculpture in San Francisco. The event featured over 400 of San Francisco's finest street artists, circus acts, and EE! On the way back from a grueling tour, 4 shows in eight days, EE started home on I-80. As M. Smith and Will B I fell asleep as passengers, the driver, name withheld, also fell victim to the hypnotic sunrise and fell asleep, sending the van into a full barrel roll and extremely violent crash. Our survival was truly a miracle, a use of one of our nine lives.

Car Crash photo, Utah That is the van, with all our stuff and the driver standing, appalled and in shock with a blanket wrapped around him for the whole episode. I awoke in the back of the van to watch and stable myself for the tumble. We rolled quite a bit and ended up with the van flattened but upright, a full barrel roll!
The van was completely smashed. I rolled out right after like a chicken with my head cut off. A trucker witnessed the accident and met me running at the side of the road after he called for help. We ran back to the van and found the driver and passenger moaning but moving. They both had walked out of the van. The broken front windshield lie underneath Will!
Van wreck, EE Utah Highway Van, Car crash photo, demolition The front of the van, with the headlights still on, man can GM make em. So many wierd things happened. The site of the crash was in the Utah Salt Flats, where the world record for land speed was set. There was also a bomb site nearby to test our government's bombs, and one went off early in the morning right after the crash that sent chills down my spine, again.
Our group shot. The policeman who showed up was in disbelief. His first actions were to force us to lie down, practically at gunpoint, then he told us he had better not find any drugs. We had a van load of gear strewn accross the desert, my head was bleeding, and we survived a miracle, and this guy was threatening us. Then the ambulance came and again practically forced us to submit to be taken to the emergency room. I had just been running around and aggresively protested. The ambulance made us sign forms and left immediatley while the cop stayed and took these photos, courtesy of the Utah Highway Patrol archives. The van was packed with audio gear, two mountain bikes, a hatchett which was flying around and had its blade dented, as well as our personel stuff.

After the crash, Will and I unloaded the van and reorganized the stuff that was all over the ground. You can see indentations in the ground on this and the previous photo of where the van was hitting on edge and rolling.

(ps, PA speakers are still working as of 2003, Sonic, good brand)

The cop finally left and a wrecker came to haul my car 80 miles back to the nearest town. They luckily had one rental truck and we loaded everything back up after about twelve hours of ordeal.

We made it back, after losing my van, stereo, bike, other equipment, Will's records, and a bit of our sanity. This picture shows the original skid marks. He veered right, then over-compensated by jerking the steering wheel left to cause the tumble, we were going 65 mph.

I am still angry that rather than goodwill and help from the police, we were accused of being drunk and practically arrested for not wanting to go broke and probably get ill at their hospital.


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