ST. ANTHONY — A local mother and her daughter are trying to find and thank the Good Samaritans who helped in a terrifying crash that ended with two people being airlifted to the hospital.
“We just wanted to personally thank everybody individually for stopping because you don’t find that a lot nowadays. You know, a lot of people won’t stop and help for whatever reason but they did and we could be in a whole different situation if they hadn’t stopped,” St. Anthony resident Alana Davis said.
Alana Davis said her 15-year-old daughter Kyllie was involved in a two-vehicle crash on Nov. 13. According to Idaho State Police, it happened around 10:30 p.m. at milepost 343 near St. Anthony on U.S. Highway 20.
Troopers described the crash as a 1998 Chevrolet GMT-400 and a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado colliding at an intersection. Kyllie, and an 18-year-old Newdale man were in the Silverado. The Chevrolet was being driven by a juvenile, who failed to yield at the intersection.
RELATED: Two people airlifted to hospital after crash near St. Anthony
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but troopers told Kyllie speed may also have factored into the crash.
“We were driving on the highway and I was on my phone most of the ride. I wasn’t really paying any attention to anything but my phone. At one point in time, (the driver) was speeding, and I told him to slow down and he did,” Kyllie said.
Moments later, Kyllie’s world was thrown upside down.
“I got back on my phone and all of a sudden, I heard glass shatter and I didn’t know what was going on since I was on my phone. I covered my head with my hands and then I blacked out. I couldn’t remember much. I just remember putting my hands over the passenger side window and pushing myself back into the truck so I didn’t fall out,” she said.
Kyllie said she did not have her seatbelt on and the airbag deployed.
“I think I blacked out twice. I remember different situations at different times. The next thing I know, I am trying to open my door and I made sure I had nothing on my legs and I tried opening my door and my window had broken — it shattered,” she said.
Interestingly, Kyllie had recently taken an EMT class and said it helped her in the situation.
“The one thing in my class that I paid attention to most was how you need to be calm in these situations and you have to check your surroundings and make sure you are okay first before you can help anybody else,” she explained.
Kyllie then made sure her friend who was driving was okay. Then she called her mom to let her know what had happened. Alana said she was worried. Kyllie is her oldest and one of two children that she has.
“That fear, that doubt, that phone call we all dread. All I could think of was, ‘Oh my God I need to get to her, I got to get to her now,’” said Alana.
Then Kyllie called 911.
“As I am calling 911, the kid from the other truck was hollering out to me and I was like, ‘Well I got to go check on him.’ I get over to the other truck, to the driver’s side and it’s my friend sitting there,” she said.
Kyllie knew both the driver and the passenger of the other vehicle involved in the crash. Her friend that had hollered out to her had told her that he wasn’t the only one in the truck. Kyllie could not find who else was involved because he wasn’t in the truck so she started yelling and looking for him.
“(I) finally found him on the side of the highway by the rumble strips heading toward Rexburg. He was ejected I think out of the driver’s side door. The door had come completely open,” she said.
Meanwhile, several people driving on the highway were stopping and helping Kyllie and her friends in the crash.
“(An off-duty officer came). He knew what he was doing. He knew what questions to ask. He had a flashlight and everything. He was ready to go. He was asking me if I was okay and he put the flashlight in my eyes to check them. Then an EMT, when she got there, she was asking me if I was in the crash. She was with her friend,” Kyllie explained.
An ambulance soon came and so did Kyllie’s mother.
“When I pulled up to the crash, to the scene of the accident, my heart just sunk to my stomach, it was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen and all I could think of was, ‘Somebody is not making it out alive,’” said Alana. “(My daughter) told me she was in the back of an ambulance so that was the first place I went. When I opened the door, I just started crying because she was alive.”
Both drivers were transported by air ambulance to a local hospital. Kyllie was driven to the hospital by her mother and had a few injuries to her legs, and her lip was swollen from the airbag that deployed. She is since doing much better. Kyllie told EastIdahoNews.com her friends are no longer in the hospital and that everyone involved in the crash is doing well.
“I want to thank everyone who helped from the bottom of my heart. All of them involved are some lucky kids. Someone was definitely watching over our babies,” said Alana in a Facebook post.
Kyllie said she will be wearing her seatbelt and paying attention to the road more while she is in a vehicle. She is so grateful to those who took the time to stop and help in the crash.
“The people that did stop were some really good people and I am so happy they did,” she said.
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