A semi plows over two cars sending three people to the hospital. The crash shut down Highway 12 outside of Altoona for hours.

His car crumpled underneath a semi, the driver was in and out of consciousness as rescuers pulled him from the car. A sergeant says he's lucky to be alive.

"Anytime you see the damage you're seeing with that Honda Civic, you expect to find people not alive. The gentleman was wearing his seat belt, the airbag deployed. It's a serious crash, but it could've been a lot worse," says Sgt. Steve Miescke with the Eau Claire County Sheriff's Department.

Sgt. Miescke says the Civic was one of two cars stopped on Highway 12, waiting to turn left onto Highway SS. That's when he says the semi, going highway speed, slammed into them from behind.

"Basically, the tractor/trailer drove right over the top of it, from a witness report," Sgt. Miescke says.

The people in the car behind the semi told us the crash happened so quickly, all they could see was flying glass and broken metal. They say they were lucky to be able to stop in time. Sgt. Miescke says he doesn't think the Civic's driver would have survived without his seat belt.

"When you look at the car, it's a crumpled ball of sheet metal. But, you get in close (and you can see) he was in the passenger compartment that was well contained in the crash."

Sgt. Miescke says the semi driver will likely be ticketed for inattentive driving. The driver worked for Berry Trucking out of Augusta and didn't want to comment.