Joe Berti doesn't feel "unlucky" to have witnessed and survived both the bombing at the Boston Marathon and then the explosion at the fertilizer plant outside of Waco, Texas. He does want to "get away from all these explosions," however.
Joe Berti ran the Boston Marathon on Monday to support a charity that helps children who have rare or undiagnosed disorders. He crossed the finish line around 30 seconds before the first of the two bombs exploded, and his wife, who was taking pictures of him finishing, was hit by shrapnel (she was unhurt). They couldn't get in touch in the panic immediately following the bombing, but found each other at their hotel shortly afterwards.
On Tuesday, they went back home to Austin to be with their two young daughters. On Wednesday, Joe went back to work and as he was heading home, saw black smoke billowing from the fertilizer plant. Then it exploded. "You've got to be kidding!," he thought to himself. He pulled over and took the picture on the left.
"My next reaction was to get out of there because something fell on the top of my car - some debris or something fell from the sky," he told the Associated Press.
"It's a miracle," he told a reporter. "People keep saying, 'Don't you feel unlucky?' and I was actually the opposite - saying not only do I not feel unlucky, but I feel blessed that my wife could be 10 yards from the explosion and not have a scratch."