Edmonton, Canada: Bloodied and bruised after almost plunging down the side of the courthouse, Dale Clinton (pictured) isn't sure if he'll ever set foot on a window washing stage again. "I don't know. I guess I'll just have to take it one day at a time and see what the future holds," said the 31-year-old. A day after Clinton and Jean Marc Juneau, 57, found themselves dangling 15 metres in the air after a clamp on their window washing stage broke loose, Clinton was nursing a deep gash to the back of his head and bruised legs and armpits. It's painful, but it's better than the alternative. "I'm happy to be sitting here alive," said Clinton. Shortly after 1:30 p.m., the pair were washing windows at the downtown Law Courts when a clamp on the left side of the stage broke. Fortunately, their harnesses held and rather than plunging to the ground they dangled in mid-air for a half-hour before rescue crews could reach them. It was a terrifying ordeal but the worst feeling was the slow motion feel of the surface being taken out from under their feet. "It's making me sick to my stomach to think about it because it's that initial feeling of something being taken out from under you that's holding you up. It's a pretty scary feeling considering you're 80 feet in the air," said Clinton. He said there was no warning and no sound of the clamp breaking but just a feeling of dropping. The world felt like it went into slow motion until they made it to the ground, said Clinton. Clinton had been on the right side of the stage furthest away from the clamp that broke. While Juneau, who was on the left side, dropped cleanly, the stage came up and hit Clinton in the back of the head, leaving a large gash that left his T-shirt bloodied. Dangling in the air, the harness cut off the blood flow in his left leg and he was beginning to lose feeling in it by the time firefighters reached him with an aerial ladder. Clinton has been working with Endure Cleaning since 1996. In all those years, he said he had never had any problems until Thursday.
Saturday 16 August 2008
Battered Window Washer Rethinks High Life
Edmonton, Canada: Bloodied and bruised after almost plunging down the side of the courthouse, Dale Clinton (pictured) isn't sure if he'll ever set foot on a window washing stage again. "I don't know. I guess I'll just have to take it one day at a time and see what the future holds," said the 31-year-old. A day after Clinton and Jean Marc Juneau, 57, found themselves dangling 15 metres in the air after a clamp on their window washing stage broke loose, Clinton was nursing a deep gash to the back of his head and bruised legs and armpits. It's painful, but it's better than the alternative. "I'm happy to be sitting here alive," said Clinton. Shortly after 1:30 p.m., the pair were washing windows at the downtown Law Courts when a clamp on the left side of the stage broke. Fortunately, their harnesses held and rather than plunging to the ground they dangled in mid-air for a half-hour before rescue crews could reach them. It was a terrifying ordeal but the worst feeling was the slow motion feel of the surface being taken out from under their feet. "It's making me sick to my stomach to think about it because it's that initial feeling of something being taken out from under you that's holding you up. It's a pretty scary feeling considering you're 80 feet in the air," said Clinton. He said there was no warning and no sound of the clamp breaking but just a feeling of dropping. The world felt like it went into slow motion until they made it to the ground, said Clinton. Clinton had been on the right side of the stage furthest away from the clamp that broke. While Juneau, who was on the left side, dropped cleanly, the stage came up and hit Clinton in the back of the head, leaving a large gash that left his T-shirt bloodied. Dangling in the air, the harness cut off the blood flow in his left leg and he was beginning to lose feeling in it by the time firefighters reached him with an aerial ladder. Clinton has been working with Endure Cleaning since 1996. In all those years, he said he had never had any problems until Thursday.
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