happen7:06“She is a strong girl,” said the woman’s father, who survived for 6 days and was trapped in a crashed car
Her father said an Indiana woman crashed her car into a ditch and broke her legs for nearly a week, dipped her clothes into a nearby creek and sucked water.
Brieonna Cassell, the mother of a three-year-old mother from Wheatfield, Indiana, recovered from her injuries six days after being trapped in the car next to the road, too injured to scream for help, her phone could not reach.
Her father, Delmar Caldwell, told happen Host Neil Coxer. “She’s better than me. I don’t think I can last for that long.”
No answering the phone
When Kassel’s mother called him last week, Caldwell first had problems and said their daughter didn’t pick up her phone. He tried to call her by himself and then directly use voicemail.
Therefore, they contact children aged 16, 21 and 23. But she didn’t answer the phone or message either.
“We know what’s wrong,” he said. “I mean, ignoring her parents, but not her children is one thing. She will never do that.”
Once it became obvious that she disappeared, police began to investigate and the family sought help on social media.
Caldwell said he spent a week driving to different towns and following up clues about people who said they had met her. When he received a call from the police, he was going to a store to check surveillance videos, saying that Kassel was found alive and was airlifted to the hospital.
“I have to stop,” he said, and his voice broke. “I’ve lost it, but I’m so grateful that she’s still alive. I’m starting to lose hope.”
what happened?
It turns out that Cassell fell asleep on the steering wheel while driving back from his friend’s house. When she woke up, she was at the bottom of a six-meter deep groove in Brook, Indiana, which was invisible to the pass.
“She just told me yesterday that she’s been listening to the vehicle,” Caldwell said. “And she tried to harshly, but she had a broken rib, which was very difficult.”
He said her cell phone slipped down under the passenger seat and she couldn’t reach it. Her legs and one wrist suffered a composite fracture – a fracture that penetrated the skin.
Eventually, her cell phone battery died.
“That’s why when we call it, it leads directly to voicemail,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell said his daughter told him she kept it warm with the bedspread in the back seat. In the first few days, she drank a bottle of water from a bottle.
When that was exhausted, she had to rely on the stream water at the bottom of the ditch.
“She was able to open the driver’s side door…she was putting the clothes there with good arms and soaking them, then pulling them back and sucking them off the clothes,” Caldwell said.
Good Samaritans, volunteer firefighters to rescue
According to the Newton County Sheriff’s OfficeIt was a good Samaritan who eventually saved Kassel’s life.
Johnny Martinez operates equipment Tuesday near a drainage company. From his point of view, he discovered Kassel’s car.
Police said he called his supervisor, who happened to be a volunteer fire chief. The two approached the vehicle and saw inside Cassel.
Police said first responders from three different volunteer fire departments helped her leave.
“Newton County may be small, but we are important – thanks to our volunteer firefighters in a large part.” Sheriff Shannon Cothran said in social media post. “In my book, Mr. Martinez is a hero, and we can never thank him for his sharp eyes and quick action.”
CBC cannot reach Martinez for comment. Caldwell said he was trying to arrange a meeting to thank him in person.
“I don’t think she’s going to have another day,” he said.
The long road ahead
Meanwhile, Kassel remains in the ICU. Since her wound has not been treated for so long, Caldwell said doctors are trying to prevent the spread of the infection.
“They are working hard to help her keep her legs… and hopefully her arms,” her father said.
Cassell’s daughter created a Go Fund Me page titled “Supporting the Medical Recovery of Brieonna Cassell” to help them with the hard work they expected, including multiple surgeries.
Still, Caldwell said his daughter was striding forward. He said the first thing she had to do when she left the emergency room was to eat.
“She’s eating like a pig,” he said with a smile. “She just shoveled it in as quickly as possible.”
When she first arrived at the hospital, he said she was begging for orange snow cakes. He said he couldn’t believe it, but they made sure that once the doctor gave something clear, she got some-and of course a meal.
Everything that happened next, Caldwell said he was glad she survived.
“We are very grateful,” he said. “She is still alive. She is safe. She is warm.”
