Woman, 80, rescued after being trapped overnight in wrecked car

 

Roane County emergency workers rescued an 80-year-old woman on Monday after she was trapped overnight in a car that traveled about 250 feet from the road, down an embankment, and into a creek, authorities said.

Roane County mail carrier Kathy Payne noticed the vehicle in the wood line while on her route on Joiner Hollow Road on Monday, the Roane County Sheriff’s Office said. Payne called 911.

Roane County Sheriff’s Office Captain Tim Hawn stopped to investigate while on patrol on Joiner Hollow Road. Hawn said he heard someone crying for help, and he climbed down the embankment and discovered an 80-year-old female who was pinned in her vehicle, the RCSO said in a Facebook post.

The woman was able to speak, and she asked Hawn if he was there to get her out.

“Hawn said that he was there to help her and promised her that they would get her out,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

The woman told Hawn that she had actually crashed on Sunday afternoon and had not been able to free herself.

Hawn said the woman’s arm was wedged under her seat, and he stayed with her until help arrived.

Once RCSO Deputies B.J. Walker and V. Del Toro removed the seat from her car, emergency medical technicians and deputies were able to get her out and carry her to the waiting ambulance, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The woman’s name and condition have not been released.

“We would like to recognize and thank Roane County mail carrier Kathy Payne,” the RCSO said. “Normally we don’t put private citizens’ information on our RCSO Facebook page without their expressed consent, but we believe Kathy’s attention to detail and quick call to 911 demands recognition, and quite possibly saved a person’s life.”

Hawn also helped save a man from drowning in west Oak Ridge in August.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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