Man makes frantic 911 call while clinging to moving truck

Newly released 911 tape shows the frantic moments when a New York man called begging authorities for help as he clung to a moving pickup truck. Robert Kowalik, 45, of Troy, N.Y., called 911 at around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday to report he had been hit by a truck and was being dragged through city streets. “I got hit by a truck. I’m hanging on the back of a white truck. Hurry, hurry,” Kowalik is heard saying on the 911 call, tape of which has been released by police.

Kowalik told authorities that he had been hit by a truck being driven by his acquaintance Seth Scudds, also 45, with whom he had been arguing outside of a store in Troy. “He just hit me, I’m hanging on his truck, hurry, hurry, oh please hurry, I can’t hang on too much,” he says on the call. “He ran over my leg. He ran over my leg. I can’t hold on much longer. He’s killing me.” Video shows Kowalik clinging to the side of the pickup truck near the back on the passenger side.

YouTube link.

Midway through the call, Kowalik, who suffered cuts and bruises but no life-threatening injuries in the incident, can be heard pleading for an unknown medication. “I want my pills back … my narcotics,” Kowalik says to someone in the vehicle during the call. Kowalik held onto the truck while staying on the phone with authorities and telling them what streets he was passing, until Scudds came to a stop in a Walmart parking lot in nearby Brunswick, N.Y.

Surveillance cameras in the store’s parking lot captured Kowalik then grabbing a bag from the truck before Scudds sped away. Authorities later clarified that it was Kowalik who partly prompted the incident because he was hanging onto the truck and was not, as he claimed, hit by the truck. Scudds was later arrested and charged with assault, reckless endangerment and reckless driving. He is free on $7,500 bail and is scheduled to return to court later today.