Road construction put Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders on the 10th Avenue bridge Wednesday in Minneapolis.

The detour perhaps saved his life.

"I usually take the 35W bridge, but the ramp was closed," Saunders said Thursday from Minneapolis in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "My daughter was driving in a car right behind me when the bridge collapsed ? about 20 yards away from us. It sounded like a bomb with it dropped.

"I got out of my car and the first thing I heard was the kids screaming on the bus. I called 911. I didn't really know what else I could do."