Teen’s lucky bad week: River rescue, truck wreck, tree falling on ambulance
Published: May 25, 2007
If people were like cats and had nine lives, a 16-year-old Rockwood male would have used up three of his lives in one week. The young man might think twice before leaving home in the future.
The young teen and his female teen passenger escaped serious injury Thursday night when the pickup they were traveling in slammed into a large oak tree in the Ozone-Westel community. While being treated in the ambulance, the 100-year-old tree suddenly fell on the emergency unit, blocking the rear exit.
That is not where the teen’s woes all began, nor is it where they ended.
The male driver was one of three teens who had to be rescued from rain-swollen Whites Creek May 5, Cumberland County authorities and the Roane County News reported.
The teens went on a canoe trip on Whites Creek near the Rhea and Roane county line. The night before and that morning brought flooding rains from the heavens which caused the creek to spill over its banks.
The trio’s canoe flipped and the three found themselves stranded on an island and had to be rescued by rescue squad members from two counties. That would be life number one.
Life number two was the wreck Thursday evening.
The teen was driving a 1989 Ford Ranger pickup on Dogwood Rd. and as he approached the Hwy. 70 E intersection, failed to negotiate a down-hill curve and slammed head-on into a large oak tree estimated to be between 100 and 125 years old. The tree has borne the brunt of many crashes over the years, rescue workers said.
Both the teen and his female passenger were being treated in a Cumberland County Emergency Medical Services ambulance when the tree suddenly broke in two about six feet from the ground, with the top crashing down upon the rear of the emergency unit.
Cpl. Rick Lanzilotta was surveying the wreck scene when he heard two “pops” coming from the top of the tree. He looked up in time to see the top shake a little, and started running as the tree suddenly fell. A large branch brushed scraped the back of his arm as he fled from the path of the falling tree. The entire incident was captured on Lanzilotta’s patrol car video camera.
Life number three. Inside the ambulance the paramedic crew of Joey Davidson and Richard Hodge were tending to the two injured teens with assistance from Cumberland County Fire Department volunteer Robert “Smokey” Patterson when the tree landed on the unit.
Patterson was knocked off his feet and toward the front.
“I was looking for headlights,” Patterson told friends later. “I thought a car or truck had hit us.”
The two teens were still strapped onto stretchers and were not injured when the tree fell. Nor were the two paramedics, according to CCEMS Director Victor Randolph.
“I talked to the regional director the other day,” Randolph said yesterday. “He has worked for the state since 1971, and he has never heard of a tree falling on an ambulance that had people inside.”
Randolph said the unit will be pretty close to a total loss. The box can be replaced, but on a 2003 Ford F-350, a decision still remains on whether the ambulance will be considered a total loss or not.
The tree not only blocked the rear escape for those in the ambulance, but forced the rear bumper of the unit to the pavement, setting the front wheels up in the air. It took members of the county fire department over and hour and a half to cut the tree from the unit and clear the road of debris.
The two occupants were taken by a second ambulance to Cumberland Medical Center where they were treated and released.
As for the teen driver who dodged death or serious injury three times, his woes weren’t over.
Deputy Kevin Phillips investigated the crash and the teen now faces charges of no proof of insurance, violation of the seat belt law and misuse of registration.
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