It was classic street theater at the corner of 12th Street and Broadway Tuesday afternoon.
A large Penske truck bringing a load of mattresses to the Aaron's store got stuck in the downtown Columbus construction.
The right rear tires of the big yellow truck were wedged into a new planter that is part of the ongoing streetscapes construction.
Stefan Melvin, the truck's driver, realized he was stuck. He dug a couple of big holes trying to drive out.
When it became obvious Melvin needed some help, it was Woody to the rescue.
Thomas "Woody" Woods, a tow truck driver for Columbus Towing and Recovery, used sidewalk engineering to pull off the escape. Using 4-by-4 slabs of wood and some street smarts, Woods spent the better part of a half hour trying to figure out how to get a large truck out of a deep hole and over new granite curbing.
First, he hooked the big truck up to his tow truck and tried to slide it out of the gash in the dirt.
"That wasn't working too good," Woods said.
After a few minutes to regroup, a Chevy truck was then sent the wrong way down one-way 12th Street. The Chevy was to pull, while Woods' tow truck supplied the push.
Push and pull worked.
As he was putting away the tools of his trade -- chains and boards -- Woods said this predicament wasn't that tough. He rated it a "4 or 5" on a 10-point scale.
"If you don't have some common sense, you can't do this job," Woods sa