Spokane man survives steel bar through skull

SPOKANE - A pizza-delivery driver whose head was speared by a 2-foot-long spike of construction steel not only survived but chatted with doctors who helped remove it, a sheriff's officer said.

The 22-year-old man was found in his wrecked vehicle with the rebar protruding from his forehead and sticking 2 inches out the back of his skull, Spokane County sheriff's spokesman Cpl. David Reagan said.

The man, who was not identified, was hospitalized in serious condition yesterday.

Investigators were trying to determine whether he was the victim of an accident or an assault.

The Pizza Pipeline employee was on duty Tuesday evening when an oncoming driver saw the deliveryman's compact car drift off the road and down an embankment. The other driver checked on the victim and found him in the driver's seat with the rebar through his head.

The victim was conscious and speaking with medical staff during some of the procedures to remove the steel bar, Reagan said.