Woman hit, dragged by street sweeper

A bizarre accident in Midtown early this morning: A woman trying to cross the street was hit and dragged along the pavement by a street sweeper. It happened around midnight at Webster and Bagby; the woman ended up being pulled along the street for about 10 feet before the driver realized what had happened.

The woman was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital with a broken leg. We're happy she wasn't hurt more badly, but we still have to wonder just how a person gets run down by a traditionally slow-moving street sweeper — kinda makes us think of this. The Internet is surprisingly vague on the top speeds of street sweepers, but we were able to find out that some of them can really hustle. For example, there was this one in Oakland, Calif., which a woman stole and then used to flee from the police — and she reached speeds of 45 or 50 mph. Who knew?