Remember when the 18-wheeler drove into the peaceful protesters on the 35W Bridge. Our guest, Miles, not only witnessed the incident, but played a central role in saving the driver some serious injury or worse. Welcome to the Courage Chronicles.
Remember when the 18-wheeler drove into the peaceful protesters on the 35W Bridge. Our guest, Miles, not only witnessed the incident, but played a central role in saving the driver some serious injury or worse. Welcome to the Courage Chronicles.
Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. We got a full house here today. We've got Steve Brown. Hello, Steve. Hi, everybody. We've got KG on the line. KG is in Columbia Heights. Uh, doing God's work. We've got Scotty Berg in from Florida. What's that all about? He's got a great tan and you know And a winning smile a repeat guest a repeat guest and then we got reed endersby Who is one of my friends from work but we have a special guest on the line. Yeah. We're gonna get right into this. Yeah. I have been reading about this guy. I'm, Totally just jazzed about visiting with him. Steve, let's do a little introduction of your friend Miles. While I give you this little bit of information about him. Miles Kipper is a guy that I used to work with at Heroic Productions. Heroic, keep that in mind. Heroic Productions. Um, he's the director of operations over there and he's, uh, um, I'm going to just go out on this for a little bit, uh, Miles. Is this a long story? No, no, no. Um, Miles is hardworking, he's smart, he's fun, he's dedicated, he's a problem solving type of teammate. He's one of those guys. He's a passionate community advocate. He is an adventurer, so he's a cross country relay skateboarder, so he can tell you a little bit about that. He's also a member of the, um, uh, Polar Academy, so, or he's involved in trekking in the Arctic. Okay. Um, so basically he and I have zero in common. Yeah. Um, he's a former rugby player. Oh God. Another, another one. He was a former rock and roll roadie. He's got crazy stories about that. All for five. He's a graduate of Mankato State. Okay. And he is a legitimate hero. There you go. That's where we meet. He's got a crazy story to talk to us about. So Miles Kipper, welcome to the Kindness Chronicles. Steve, hello. Gentlemen, hello. Thank you for having me. That was such a nice introduction. Horns up, baby. Horns up. I love it. Horns up. What does that mean? Mankato, man. Oh, Mankato, the Mavericks. They've been doing all right lately. They've had a little success. KG, since, you know, we always have to talk sports, why don't you start with talking about your Minnesota State Mavericks? Thanks. Well, it doesn't happen very often, but when both the men's and women's team win national championships in basketball, within a couple of days of each other, it's a really big deal. And I've got some dear friends that are, uh, graduates of Minnesota State, Dan Myers, maybe the biggest Maverick hockey fan on the planet. And it drew a lot of fans to the game and drew a lot of fans to Maverick basketball. And so Miles, that's just, uh, you That's pretty cool to see. And I've got a nephew, Nick, that, uh, goes to Mankato right now. There was a big parade down there. They had a heck of a time. And you know, Mankato, right? It's a tight knit community that had to be a pretty big deal. It was a pretty big deal. I'm on the alumni board for the university and, um, I was a student there when the men won last time, and it's been really cool. So yeah, the whole community has been going wild. There's been a lot of fun stuff going on. I think it's great for the school. It speaks to the program. It speaks to the work they're doing. Miles, before we get to your fascinating story, I just want to comment a couple things about what happened over this past weekend. the Women's Basketball Championship. This is the Kindness Chronicles. And there are a couple of examples of kindness that I thought ought to be. discussed momentarily. Yeah, tell us. And then there was also a Don't be that guy moment that I want to address. So Dawn Staley, who is the coach of the South Carolina women's team, who went undefeated for the whole season. She is, receiving the trophy and giving an opportunity to, uh, to talk about her team. And she acknowledges the fact that Caitlin Clark, her opponent on the Iowa team, what she has done for women's basketball and just raising the profile of the. And the numbers don't lie. There was like 18. 6 million people that tuned into the women's game, and only 13. 5 that tuned into the men's game. So I just thought that it was I thought it was super classy that she took the time to acknowledge. Yeah. I Don Staley is a legend as a basketball player and then also as a, as a coach and the fact that she recognized, this Caitlin Clark really has impacted the world of women. I enjoyed watching the women more than, you The men's game. I mean those women are unbelievable. Yeah. Incredible. Now for the don't be that guy. I don't know if you saw that immediately after the win they have a press conference and some guy decides to ask the question to Dawn Staley what do you think about transgender women playing in, Division 1 sports and Oh, stir the pot. To her credit she took a long pause And she said something like, you're really going to ask me that right now. And I just thought that it was completely classless to ask that question. They asked the Iowa coach that, the same thing, and she, her response was, I'm not going to get into that. And Don kind of, You're trying to get clicks or something, right? Oh my god, it's so stupid. But I mean, it's like, You're ruining the moment. The woman is having one of the greatest moments of her life. And this jackass, you know, to draw attention to himself decides I'm going to pounce on this opportunity. Don't be that guy. Don't be that guy. Oh, that's embarrassing. Let's talk to Miles. Yes. I have to tell you, Miles, was involved in probably one of the biggest news stories in the century, in a way. He was, involved in one of the peaceful protests that took place in the, uh, aftermath of the George Floyd murder. 2020, right? Back in 2020. Yeah. Miles happened to be on the bridge. When the tanker truck drove into the, to the, when they had to have been 10, 000 people on that bridge, it was shocking how many people, We're on that bridge and during a moment of silence as I've read about this a moment of silence when people were like down on their knees all the sudden this truck comes flying into the picture I was watching it because I was one of those looky loos I was so fascinated I don't think I left the couch for days yeah watching all this stuff. I just saw the raw footage of it and it's just terrifying and this truck comes flying into the picture my first thought was terrorism yeah You know, what is this guy doing? But Miles, you were actually there. Let's have Miles tell us about it. Tell us what, you know, for starters, how did you end up on the bridge? I'm curious as to how that whole protest got organized before we get into your role in the event. absolutely. And I don't think you can really talk about the bridge incident without talking more about like the wider things that were happening in and around the city at that time, it was. you know, within a week of George Floyd's murder and the city had been in turmoil for days, what started as peaceful protests was obviously not at times. And you know, that, that stopped its mark on the city, that it's still not the same and it left its mark on the world and the national news cycle and everything, um, pretty dramatically. So all that stuff went down very close to my house. My family has a long history of Minneapolis. I grew up in Minneapolis. I grew up in the area. I actually graduated from Hopkins High School. Graduated from Hopkins, um, My family moved to Minneapolis after World War II in, you know, the late 40s. And it's had a presence there ever since. There's been a number of protests, kind of all over the city, addressing different things all week. And I have had my camera out with me and spent a lot of time, it was so all encompassing. Like, you know, even if I was home, you could hear the sirens and hear the helicopters and hear at times the shots, the gunshots from the riot weapons the police were using. so it was hard to be inside, it was hard to not be out, seeing what was happening and expressing. The emotion of the day. I kind of acted like it was my week as a street correspondent. And it was interesting. The things that were happening locally and things you were seeing in real time, and the things that were portrayed in the national news. But that's a whole other story. So, we ended up on the bridge after, You know, another day in what had been a series of protests, I believe they were organized on Facebook or on Reddit, just kind of, there was some groups spearheading them. I do not remember who it was at this time, but it started, started downtown with, as you said, thousands and thousands of people, and we walked over the Hennepin bridge and through Northeast and eventually I moved down University and onto the freeway and it had been, you Some might choreograph with the city and with the D. O. T. and there were so many moving pieces and the timetable shifted So initially they had said to close the freeway down Four or five o'clock the protest got there a few hours early And it ended up with thousands of people kind of walking onto a freeway and it wasn't really close to traffic But, you know, the truck was definitely not the only part, but at this point, we, you know, we've been walking for a couple hours and we've taken moments of silence in a number of places. And as you said, we were in a moment of silence on the bridge. Um, I have my skateboard, I have my camera. I'll never forget it. It's your video camera, right? You were rolling a video, right? I had my, like, yeah, my, my DSLR camera that was video capable. Yeah, yeah. So I, I was generally taking still pictures. Okay. But I believe I switched to video for most of this, just as things, like, kind of developed so quickly. Yeah. I'm just curious, were you on the, the northbound side of 35W? Yeah, I was on the northbound side. Okay. I was on the eastern part of the northbound lane of 35 7. Okay. So the truck came in, in like, you know, the far left lane. Yep. The western most lane. So I like was very clearly able to see the truck from where I was, but was also like very clearly not in its direct path. what, what did you hear? I'm curious what the, the, the noises were like, was he honking? Did the truck get past barrier or something? Or did he, was it not clear to him that it was a So what, like, in the aftermath of what happened, uh, we learned that the truck driver was a Ukrainian dude who had delivered a load of fuel to a gas station on 36th and Lindale. Oh. And he was able to get straight on to 35W North from Lindale. As I said, like, there was some confusion between the city, the DOT, and the police on, like, when the roads were supposed to be closed. So, yeah, there was no barricades, and the driver drove right around and snuck straight onto the freeway. He got in where there wasn't something, yeah, okay, wow. And he's driving along wondering, where is everybody? Uh oh. Yeah, yeah, pretty much that. And he slides around a corner into a crowd of, he thought, you know, thousands of people, and he didn't make the right decisions at the time. He tried to drive through the crowd, and that, at that time, like, There had just been another incident in Texas where a driver drove into a crowd of protesters on the freeway. That was happening, yeah. Within In America. Yeah, within days of that. Um, so it was like pretty fresh in everybody's mind. And what we heard was, you know, there's this moment of silence with thousands of people on their knees. And it's just quiet. There's not much traffic. It's a, you know, spring day. And then you hear just an air horn and screeching brakes and a truck, like, flying in and honking. It's just like Kind of see a wave of people jumping up from their knees and yelling and kind of get out of the way. And the initial thought was that this was an intentional act. many many people were going to be injured or killed. So the initial thought was that I thought I would have photo or video evidence of this guy, like, killing hundreds of people in a semi truck. And had a skateboard and a camera and was able to, like, move with the truck and document exactly what was happening from 20 yards away. Yeah. And then, you know, there was a moment when the driver slowed, and was kind of mobbed by the crowd and then accelerated again before, being dragged out of the truck. this truck was hauling when it, when it first entered the, freeway. He thinks he's on a freeway, right? He was flying. And I mean, there were people that jumped on the hood of this truck. Like, it was shocking how athletic these people were. And they're kicking the windows out. And when I was watching it, the first thing that came to mind was, was Reginald Denny, who was the guy that was dragged out of his car during the uh, the LA riots back in Rodney King. Yeah, the Rodney King deal. Ninety three. Did that enter your mind? Yeah, it absolutely did. I mean, again, at the time, like, with everything that had been going on, that was very much in the news again. Um, and Reginald Denny, like, yeah, I was very aware of Reginald Denny. Like the, the impact that had on LA to this day, and especially in the aftermath of what followed that, it's like the, the protesters lost credibility in many ways at that point. As the truck. It's stopped and the driver is dragged from the vehicle. It goes to the point of like, thinking I'm going to document him committing a crime to, like I can hear this guy screaming, uh, you know, screaming, opposite lungs. So I was kind of switching from like, man, I'm not going to document this guy killing people. I'm going to document like this guy getting murdered. Oh yeah. Holy cow. Ugh. Well, you went from documentarian to hero pretty quickly, it appears. Yeah. Yeah, it all happened very quickly. It all happened very quickly. Uh, it was a weird moment. You know, it was, it was intense, but I was present in the time and I didn't, you know, have a good handle on what was happening in situational awareness. But, yeah, so it kind of quickly went from Taking pictures and taking video to ending up in this, um, standing over this driver with maybe 10 or 15 other people trying to, like, prevent the, the mob from, from murdering him on the bridge. Well, and, uh, as I was watching, I was thinking they're gonna toss his, toss him over the side of the bridge. beyond beating him to death. I thought, they're going to dump this guy over the side of the bridge. Mob energy going on right there. Miles is in the middle of that mob energy. So, Miles, I just, I want to read something to you because, uh, this article that, uh, that Steve sent me, there was a, there was a question that was asked of you about being a rugby player. And there was a comment made about your athletic memory kicked in. And you wrote, or you said, I played rugby for 10 years until a shoulder injury got in the way. I spent years actively training to oppose an unruly mob, trying to take something that I was not willing to give up. The incident on the bridge felt akin to an angry scrum. There could have been no better preparation. I know in my heart that any lock worth his stones, or really any respectable member of the forward pack, would have been there at my side given the opportunity. That is so well said. I just, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the, uh, the verbal prose that you had there. Yeah, I appreciate that. That was before AI too. That was before AI. It was, it was. Well played. But Miles, so you were a rugby player. Steve tells me that you're not a tiny guy. No, he's a big guy. How did you protect this guy from getting obliterated? It was really like standing shoulder to shoulder with a line of other people who were thinking the same thing I was, and physically preventing people from kicking, stepping, grabbing, punching, whatever, into the sky. It was like Cowering under our legs, like crawling under us trying to get away. So in the moment, uh, In the moment, Yeah, it was a pretty, Mm hmm. So in the moment this truck screams up, and it had to have looked, or what were you, were you thinking, this, this couldn't, this isn't a mistake, this is a deliberate, somebody is driving this, coming in at full speed into this group. Where is your head at, at that point? Right, so the truck stops. You've just, the adrenaline must be overwhelming. How, what's happening in that moment? There's no one around to, there's no order, it's pure chaos. Pure chaos. He comes out of the cab. Then what? Well, I don't think he voluntarily came out of the cab. Well, no, no, but I So the, the driver merges and then the mob mentality that you mentioned. Yeah, I wanna know that too. I wanna know what he switched, where his mind switched to go, why I better protect this guy, even though he might've just been trying to kill everybody. Like what made you, what's going through your mind there, miles? Yeah. Well, again, um, the, the LA riots and that driver there who had been, uh, Reginald, who had been beaten. On camera in the public eye, like this would have been that, but from 200 angles, you know, they, they were probably going to throw the guy off the bridge, given their way. So, between having that in my head and hearing this kid scream for his life, um, Did you know any of the other guys? Did you know any of the other guys that were protecting him? Or was it just random? No, I have no idea who any of those people are. I think that I have, uh, like, crossed paths with them on, so, one or two of them on social media over the years. But, no, I have no idea who else is there. If I remember I'm not talking to anybody else who is there, though. So, if you're out there, contact me. Yeah. If I remember this right, Miles, you and I talked about this after the fact, too. Um You, you told me in that moment, you're like, if, if they do kill this guy, I don't know, you had some forethought about it or you, your thought was if they kill this guy, everything's going to be way worse. Like it will cause way even more damage to the whole situation would get, it's like lighting everything on fire. So that's, I mean, what, I can't imagine that you would even be able to put those thoughts together in the moment. Right. Can't fathom. It's shocking. Everything was very fresh in my mind. I'd been, we were a week into the unrest here, and I'd seen like half the buildings I knew in the city burn. I'd seen the police station burn. I'd seen the police like, Make a tactical withdrawal from their own third precincts, we shouldn't forget at the time we're also dealing with lockdowns. Yep. Everyone is shut in. The uncertainty of COVID that compounded this to a level which I don't think we can comprehend either. That, that. Finally out of the how this, this atrocity has occurred and there's that subplot going on in our lives. Everyone's on the edge of their seat about everything right now. Well, and I, I think, you know, it needs to be acknowledged that this driver was a white guy. And, you know, to your point, Miles, or to Steve, your, your comment, you know, if all of a sudden this, this unruly mob murders this white guy, That's just going to stoke the fire even that much more. So, Miles, you mentioned social media and one of the things that I was really struck by as I was reading your story is initially on Facebook you had posted some images of what you witnessed and you were, at the time, 100 percent sure that this guy did this intentionally and that he was out there to cause harm. And the thing that struck me more than anything was you can believe in every fiber of your being that you're a hundred percent right and not be right and you apologized. Which I think is just so admirable and so rare in this crazy ass world that we're living in. I've, um, Reid who's been chiming in here who's got the best radio voice of all of us. You were a radio professional, of course. I was. That's right. That's a fact. That's a fact. Anyways. Thanks, John. Reid and I, um, uh, have been working on this program called Civility School, and one of the topics that we cover is, you know, the importance of, of dignity, and dignity is something that you earned. And one way that you can demonstrate dignity comes through the power of an apology, but then also the power of forgiveness. And I think the fact that You had the foresight to go on this big social media platform where the story of yours was getting all kinds of, uh, all kinds of clicks, all kinds of views, and you said, I read the situation wrong. I just, I thought that that, to me, says more about Miles Kipper than anything. It does. It's a good example of who he's, uh, what he's all about. And even though you might be an explorer and ride a, you know, a thing across country and, you know, you're a photographer and you do all these things that I'm incapable of, I connected with you the most. by the fact that you're an apology guy, because I am. I've been married for almost 30 years and there's been a lot of apologizing going on on my end. So, I just admire that. So, thank you. I appreciate that. Um, I felt, I don't know, I felt kind of a duty at that time through everything that was going on to provide an honest of what was happening in the city. Because we weren't seeing it from the larger national resources. Um, you weren't seeing the things that were happening on the ground because there's many wild things that happened and there was a lot of really beautiful stuff that happened and it was an unprecedented time in our country's history. Um, it was a perfect storm of COVID lockdowns and everybody having a detention span and looking for distraction and also, you know, like George Floyd's murder was one of the few things in recent history that like absolutely everybody agreed on. From both sides of the political aisle. That's what happened. It wasn't cool. It wasn't I don't think the willful destruction of some of the, you know, like, the medical institutions and the public buildings and the public housing and the, and the bookstores, the Walgreens on Lake Street. It's like, where am I going to go to get my, you know, insulin now? When you there's so many authors out today. The David Brooks, the Mark Mansons. They talk about, you know, you're right where you are right where you are supposed to be right now. And I it's easy to roll our eyes at that and think, well, okay, sh But Miles, you were exactly where you were supposed to be that day. Think of, and I think, just hearing your story and you recapping and recounting this, think of that, if you had not been there, how this could have turned out in an instant. Not to get cosmic and, but, but, regardless of where people fall on the, even the religious point of view or, or that, This, to me, this is no coincidence that it is a case study of you were exactly where the universe needed you to be in a moment of the layers of incendiary At least from the guy, this driver's life, you know, in his direct path, whatever his path was, Miles was in, in there, uh, connected with that path in some weird way. You know, Reed, we try and avoid deep thoughts on this program. You just, you went a little, when you brought up cosmic, you just, you kind of lost me. And you mentioned reading books. What tell us about that? What does that mean exactly? Well, for those of you that don't read, there are audio books as well. Oh, yeah. But, uh, big fan of Mark Manson. Is he related to Marilyn Manson? No, come on. You're a broadcaster, you want to say, of course I know who he is. No, that would be a dirty lie. It's okay. It's good to have somebody sophisticated among us. So, okay, is there more to the story? So, Miles, you jumped in, stood strong with some other people, did the police arrived and help get him out of there? Like, how did that end up, you know, calming down? you know, I think it was about two minutes before the police kind of moved down to the bridge in force. cleared the crowd, cleared the protesters, used liberal tear gas and pepper spray, and, you know, took the driver away and I was wondering about that. Here are these good Samaritans that are saving this guy and they get pepper sprayed for their efforts. And two minutes in that situation is an eternity. Oh my god. Did you get hammered with the pepper spray? I absolutely did get hammered with the pepper spray. Oh god. Not the most fun I've ever had. You know, I like, I, I don't really blame the police for that either. And that's Miles Kipper for you. and nobody got hurt from the truck, right? In all that chaos, no one actually got hurt from that truck rolling over anybody or anything? No one, no one actually got hurt from the truck and that's like kind of my I've debated if this was intentional, an intentional act of terror or not with people over the years now. And the thing that I would come back to is like, that guy had every opportunity in the world to hurt a lot of people. somebody reached out to you on Facebook that owned the gas station that he had just been at and told you that this guy was not the kind of guy that would do something intentional. Is that accurate? Yeah, that is, that is accurate. You know, I did, I spoke with the owner of the gas station. It turns out that an old family friend's husband or partner was, you know, the owner and proprietor of that gas station. Okay. He basically said that, uh, no one would deliver gas into Minneapolis at that time. There was kind of like an embargo on the city because trucks did not feel it was safe to come in. Guy was the owner operator, he was the only one that they could find to deliver fuel into the city. That's an interesting part of the story. he has the courage to do something that no one else wants to do at the time, makes an honest mistake. I mean, I think his biggest mistake is when he started the truck up again, and yeah, you know, kept going. there's a guy named John Haidt who's on the GarageLogic podcast, and he He knew this driver. Apparently he's, you had mentioned a Ukrainian guy. He and his brother, they both drive trucks. Whatever happened to him? did he get charged? did he get penalized in some way for that incident? He did get charged, but they eventually dropped the charges. in my completely unprofessional opinion, but I have stayed on top of the story as much as I could, uh, that the driver made a bad decision when he didn't stop and chose to drive into the crowd. it would have been shocking to drive around the corner going 75 in a semi or 70 in a semi and see that crowd. It takes a long time to stop a truck, so he could have done a better job of stopping. Beyond that, like, I think that the city, between the police and the DOT, did not coordinate this well enough. It's not like the guy drove around a barricade to get on the freeway, he just drove onto the freeway. His intention was to stop, but when he started it up again, I would imagine that the people there thought, what is this guy trying to do? You know, he went from, you know, from being in a bad situation to potentially a good solution to all the sudden making this decision to take off again. Miles, were you asked to be a witness at all in the charges? I did speak with the BCA, after the fact that they got my story, and kind of privately owned up to the fact that the DOT dropped the ball, but that it would not be admitted publicly in any way, shape, or form. So I can't confirm or deny that, but that's what they told me. Miles, it's usually the Kindness Chronicles. This is more like the Courage Chronicles. Yeah. Um, it's an amazing story. I've been wanting to have you on for quite a while, Miles. And I'm so glad we got a chance to talk to you and hear a little more firsthand of what happened. And you're just, you're one of those guys, It's a remarkable story. It's a remarkable moment that you found yourself, uh, being a hero and how, how wild. And I gotta admit, being a guy that runs towards that kind of stuff, I honestly, I cannot, I can't connect with that. I would have been running off that bridge. I'm not kidding. No, I'm with John. Yeah, that's we appreciate your story. We admire your courage you handled this with such grace is really something that we should all aspire to act like it's pretty cool I appreciate those words of high praise I wasn't alone on the bridge that day. There was You There's a lot of people there helping, as I did, but I am thankful for For my part in not having Minneapolis have that black mark on its record forever. Yeah. Well, and the fact that you are a trained rugby scrummer kind of a guy, you probably, you know, locked up like they do in those rugby things and created this protective circle. Somebody wanted something that you didn't want them to have. I'm not kidding, kicked it kicked into gear. It's like, like Reed said, you were where you needed to be at that moment in time. Yeah, it's And will forever be. An example. Kindness. Dignity. Integrity. This, the ripple effect will, will last forever. So, last question, why would you be a winter camper? I have a few hobbies, actually, that when I'm in them, I wonder why. Okay, so at least you have moments of clarity. I do. I'm like, Oh, why, why am I doing this? Why did I, why did I arrange this? But beyond that, like, uh, I appreciate the seasons that we have here. I lived out of state for a number of years and when I chose to move back to Minnesota, um, it was really important to me that I had a reason to enjoy every season just and not like be miserable for four months of the year, deep winter. So I took up a lot of winter sports, um, outdoor camping and winter survival is definitely one of them. Well, our friend Scott Berg that's here appreciates the winter season so much he's moving full time to Naples, Florida. So whatever, Scott. If, if our, if our listeners want to, uh, check it out, look up Miles Kipper and the bridge, uh, the 35 W bridge. And there's, there's all kinds of really interesting interviews. Miles interviews on the nationals. I think it was like, uh, The Today Show or something and, uh, a whole bunch of other things. Especially the raw footage of the stuff. Was that raw footage your footage, Miles? Yeah, yeah it is. That's what I thought. Oh wow. And coincidentally, Miles works for an organization or company called Heroic Productions. Hmm. Interesting. Yeah. I know, it's funny how that worked out this time. Yeah, I would be in, uh, Timid Cowardly Productions. Um, Couch Productions. Soft. I'm there. Alright, well Miles, thanks for joining us. Absolutely. Thanks man. all. Really nice to talk to you. Really nice to meet everybody else as well. for having me. Alright. Thanks Miles. Really love the show. Alright guys. See ya. Take care. And uh,