Sherry ~ age 10- Ethan ~ age 7- Robbie ~ age 7
Timmy ~ age 5- Rebekah ~ age 4- Bethany ~ age 3
On the morning of Friday, June 15, 2001 we all got ready to go to Vacation Bible School at our church. I as a teacher of the first and second grade boys class and my 4 children and 2 friends as students. Excitement was running high because today was the day that either the boys or the girls were going to win and one of the workers was going to get a pie in the face.
After an exciting time at Bible School we left and went to where my hubby works to get some money from him. Sherry's Daddy had some classes to attend and Ethan's Mommy had 9 dogs to groom that day so I thought I'd take all of the children to Chik-Fil-A so that they could eat and then play and have fun in the Air Conditioned playground.
We got to the light in the turn lane to go to Chik-Fil-A and I noticed that an ambulance was coming towards the intersection to the right of me. The turn lane light was red but the light going straight was green. The traffic beside me going straight began stopping to let the ambulance go through the intersection. Behind me was a Ford Explorer. In the far left lane was a huge County Dump Truck going about 60 - 65 miles per hour. The driver was obviously trying to make the light before it turned red and did not realize until it was too late that all the traffic ahead of him was stopping. He applied his brakes (hard) and they locked up. He lost control and it pulled to the left laying 197 feet of skid marks according to the police report!
I remember sitting there watching the ambulance and thinking "Oh no! This is going to cause an accident!"... Well it did! The Dump Truck struck the Ford Explorer from behind which in turn struck the back of my '91 Ford Aerostar Extended Body Mini-Van. After turning the van in a half circle the dump truck then struck the side of the van. My first thought was to get to the kids before something else hit us after the second impact. I threw the van in park and turned it off and jumped out. I ran to the passenger side through glass and opened the front door. I began pulling the smaller children out the side window and the bigger ones jumped out the front door. Many, many people jumped out of their cars and ran over to help. People were hugging the kids left and right trying to help me calm them down. The ambulance that was there pulled up in front of the van and we put the kids in the back with the lady that was already in there till another ambulance came. I called my hubby at work then called Ethan's Mom. I was in shock and disbelief! I walked around the van sobbing. All of my hubby's tools and a big double stroller that was in the back of the van were thrown out all over the road. I just could not believe that we had all made it out of the accident alive! When the Dump Truck struck us it threw dirt everywhere- all over the kids and in all of our eyes. The Ford Explorer looked like an accordion... the poor lady inside was knocked unconscious and was stuck under the steering wheel. They had to cut her out of her truck. I talked to her on Tuesday following the accident and she was in a tremendous amount of pain. She had a major concussion and has large blood clots in her thighs. She also has quite a burn on her arm from the air bag.
Amazingly enough nobody died in the accident! The police and EMT's were shaking their heads amazed that none of the children were killed because the impact was so great. They all said that had the children not all been wearing seat belts that none of them would have made it through the accident alive! They transported all 6 of the children and myself to the hospital in the same ambulance to keep the kids calm. When we arrived the baby (Bethany) got hysterical thinking they were taking Mommy away because I was on a stretcher and they got me down first. They handed her to me and she rode in with me : ) When we got in there they took the 2 children who were not mine to their parents who were waiting (Ethan's Mom had met us at the scene and knew that he was OK already.) The nurses at the nurses station had already heard about the accident from the first ambulance that had arrived and gave me a standing ovation for having all of the children in seat belts. My husband and in-laws arrived shortly after we did and they took the kids to get them something to eat. My Preacher came just after they left and wanted to know if the kids were alright. He said that a lady from our Church was in the line of cars behind us and called him from her cell phone and told him that we had been in an accident and that she did not see how any of us could have made it out alive! He had come expecting the worst. My oldest son, Robbie, has whiplash in his neck with pain running down his legs at times as does Sherry. Ethan received a small cut on his foot, and I also have whiplash in my neck and shoulder with nerve damage in my neck which is causing pain to shoot down my arm to the tips of my fingers. We are all praising the Lord that we are alive!!!! The outcome could have been sooooo much worse!
Please keep us all in your prayers and I'll try to keep everyone updated as to how we are doing. Please pray for the lady in the Explorer... she is in MUCH pain! The Dr is talking of putting me in the hospital in traction if the pain doesn't start easing up some, so please keep me in your prayers also.
June 26, 2001~
June 27, 2001~
We finally received the check for the van today! They air expressed it to us and when the lady that brought it beeped her horn the kids ran out the door shouting "HOORAY!!!!" Timmy told her "thank you, thank you, thank you!" She got a kick out of the kids and said it really made her day to make them so happy : )
June 29, 2001~
I went to the police station to pick up a copy of the revised version of the accident report. I read it and was so furious ! The policeman that did the original report had told me that the county was outraged at him for the original report because it stated that the Dump Truck driver was going at a high rate of speed (which he WAS- fast enough to lay 197 feet of skid marks when he tried to stop!) and they wanted it ammended. It was ammended alright- ammended to the point where it lays no fault whatsoever on the County Driver! No speeding ticket, no reckless driving ticket, no ticket whatsoever!!! He is getting off scott free with an Atta-Boy on the county's part when he could have killed 10 people with his reckless behaviour!
July 6, 2001~
Well, we have had the money for another car for 9 days now but just can't seem to find a car... please pray that we will be able to find something suitable for 6 people that is reasonable!
Thanks!
July 24, 2001~
Its been a while since I've wrote any updates. Its been a pretty frustrating time for all of us! I have been having a lot of pain and have been having to go to the Chiropractor on a daily basis. (I was supposed to have been doing this from the beginning but it was next to impossible to get there!) We did finally find another van... we got it a month to the day after the accident. Have you ever tried to go exactly a month with no vehicle whatsoever? And no phone for half of that month? Try it sometime : ) Its a BIG lesson in frustration!!!! Just to get to the grocery store or to the bank or for my husband to get to work... UGHHHH!!!! I sincerely hope we NEVER have to go through all this again!
Anyway... we found another van similar to one that we had before the one that was smashed (it needs a transmission and is still in our driveway so my dh is using it for parts that the new one needed.)
I found out that the driver of the Dump Truck works at a local superstore that is open 24/7 and on a week night when I was there he was STILL working there at after 10:00 PM at night! I'll bet he went and got into a dump truck to drive it the next morning after being up half the night! How many people is he going to have to almost kill before he and the County get the message that he is playing with fire!! You cannot get into a vehicle that big and be safe when you are that tired! OK... I'll stop ranting now : )
This is the picture and article that was in the local newspaper the following day.
This is the seat where the children were sitting. A bunch of dirt flew in from the dump truck when it struck us in the side.
These photo's are not very good because I took a picture of a picture with a digital camera.
