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Crash requires heroic rescue efforts
Canby - Two young girls are injured, one critically, but passers-by are able to help
Sunday, January 21, 2007
MICHELLE ROBERTS
Clay Baggerly, an off-duty paramedic, had just left for his daughter's soccer match Saturday morning when he saw a wreck on a highway just south of Canby.
A light blue Dodge minivan rested in the ditch -- its passenger side shorn away. A Ford F350 pickup with less damage sat nose-to-nose with the van, the horse trailer it had been hauling jutting into the road.
Baggerly, 43, pulled over and told his 12-year-old daughter, Karley, and 8-year-old son, Cade, to wait in the truck. No matter what, he warned them, don't get out.
Baggerly found Gina Lannin, 40, screaming into her cell phone: "I need help! I need help!"
Lannin was driving the van south on the two-lane Canby-Marquam Highway when she lost control on an icy section and slid broadside into the oncoming lane. The passenger side of her van was struck by the Ford, driven by Kimberly Hayes, 28, of Molalla.
Both women were unhurt, but Lannin told Baggerly that the two young girls riding in her backseat appeared to be seriously injured.
Baggerly remembers sprinting to the van. He looked inside and saw Lannin's daughter, Genevieve. Her face was covered in blood. But she was crying. That was a good sign, Baggerly told himself.
But where was the second girl?
Baggerly peered inside the car, a mangled jigsaw of metal. He saw a tiny pair of legs. He looked twice. Blinked, and looked again.
"She was in her car seat, completely upside down and jammed in between the wheel well and the back tire on the passenger side," Baggerly later recalled. "She was completely unconscious and not moving."
Baggerly began frantically bending back metal to reach her. Just then, Baggerly's neighbor, 69-year-old Michael "Doc" Harms, a well-known local veterinarian, was behind him, helping pull away metal pieces.
Harms, still shaken hours later, said he was stunned by what he saw: "We thought this was a rag doll. We had to look twice."
After struggling for several seconds, the men managed to untangle the girl's legs from the wreckage and find the buckle to her car seat.
"I wiggled my way in there, released her head from behind there and wedged her out of there," Baggerly said.
Chanelle Myers, 4, with short, dark hair, lay limp in his arms. Her face was lacerated and bruised. She struggled to breathe.
Baggerly, a paramedic for 16 years for Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue, always carries latex gloves. He pulled them on and went to work. He ordered other motorists who had stopped to bring him their coats to keep Chanelle off the cold ground. Harms ran to his truck to get some gauze.
The two men worked side by side to open her airway so she could breathe.
Seconds felt like hours on the icy road. Both men remember praying to themselves.
After several moments, the girl's hands began to move ever so slightly. Harms started to clean off her face. Both men spoke to her softly.
"We told her, 'We're here for you, sweetheart,' " Baggerly said. " 'You're free from the car now. We're going to get you to a hospital.' " Harms took Chanelle's tiny hand in his and rubbed it softly.
Baggerly said it seemed like the world stood still just then. Two grown men and a tiny girl, lying together on a roadside.
It was only a matter of minutes before an ambulance arrived. Chanelle was airlifted to Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center, where she was listed in critical condition late Saturday. Genevieve was taken to the same hospital and was listed in serious condition.
It was an hour before Baggerly returned to his truck and his terrified children. His daughter wore a look of horror. His son was sobbing.
The trio spoke few words as they drove back home, the soccer game long forgotten.
Baggerly doesn't talk about his job a lot. There are things kids just don't need to think about. But on Saturday, they saw it firsthand.
Just as they reached the driveway, a small hand caressed Baggerly's shoulder from the back seat. "Dad," his daughter told him. "I didn't know it before, but you're a hero."
Michelle Roberts: 503-294-5041; michelleroberts@news.oregonian.com
Crash requires heroic rescue efforts
Canby - Two young girls are injured, one critically, but passers-by are able to help
Sunday, January 21, 2007
MICHELLE ROBERTS
Clay Baggerly, an off-duty paramedic, had just left for his daughter's soccer match Saturday morning when he saw a wreck on a highway just south of Canby.
A light blue Dodge minivan rested in the ditch -- its passenger side shorn away. A Ford F350 pickup with less damage sat nose-to-nose with the van, the horse trailer it had been hauling jutting into the road.
Baggerly, 43, pulled over and told his 12-year-old daughter, Karley, and 8-year-old son, Cade, to wait in the truck. No matter what, he warned them, don't get out.
Baggerly found Gina Lannin, 40, screaming into her cell phone: "I need help! I need help!"
Lannin was driving the van south on the two-lane Canby-Marquam Highway when she lost control on an icy section and slid broadside into the oncoming lane. The passenger side of her van was struck by the Ford, driven by Kimberly Hayes, 28, of Molalla.
Both women were unhurt, but Lannin told Baggerly that the two young girls riding in her backseat appeared to be seriously injured.
Baggerly remembers sprinting to the van. He looked inside and saw Lannin's daughter, Genevieve. Her face was covered in blood. But she was crying. That was a good sign, Baggerly told himself.
But where was the second girl?
Baggerly peered inside the car, a mangled jigsaw of metal. He saw a tiny pair of legs. He looked twice. Blinked, and looked again.
"She was in her car seat, completely upside down and jammed in between the wheel well and the back tire on the passenger side," Baggerly later recalled. "She was completely unconscious and not moving."
Baggerly began frantically bending back metal to reach her. Just then, Baggerly's neighbor, 69-year-old Michael "Doc" Harms, a well-known local veterinarian, was behind him, helping pull away metal pieces.
Harms, still shaken hours later, said he was stunned by what he saw: "We thought this was a rag doll. We had to look twice."
After struggling for several seconds, the men managed to untangle the girl's legs from the wreckage and find the buckle to her car seat.
"I wiggled my way in there, released her head from behind there and wedged her out of there," Baggerly said.
Chanelle Myers, 4, with short, dark hair, lay limp in his arms. Her face was lacerated and bruised. She struggled to breathe.
Baggerly, a paramedic for 16 years for Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue, always carries latex gloves. He pulled them on and went to work. He ordered other motorists who had stopped to bring him their coats to keep Chanelle off the cold ground. Harms ran to his truck to get some gauze.
The two men worked side by side to open her airway so she could breathe.
Seconds felt like hours on the icy road. Both men remember praying to themselves.
After several moments, the girl's hands began to move ever so slightly. Harms started to clean off her face. Both men spoke to her softly.
"We told her, 'We're here for you, sweetheart,' " Baggerly said. " 'You're free from the car now. We're going to get you to a hospital.' " Harms took Chanelle's tiny hand in his and rubbed it softly.
Baggerly said it seemed like the world stood still just then. Two grown men and a tiny girl, lying together on a roadside.
It was only a matter of minutes before an ambulance arrived. Chanelle was airlifted to Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center, where she was listed in critical condition late Saturday. Genevieve was taken to the same hospital and was listed in serious condition.
It was an hour before Baggerly returned to his truck and his terrified children. His daughter wore a look of horror. His son was sobbing.
The trio spoke few words as they drove back home, the soccer game long forgotten.
Baggerly doesn't talk about his job a lot. There are things kids just don't need to think about. But on Saturday, they saw it firsthand.
Just as they reached the driveway, a small hand caressed Baggerly's shoulder from the back seat. "Dad," his daughter told him. "I didn't know it before, but you're a hero."
Michelle Roberts: 503-294-5041; michelleroberts@news.oregonian.com
How sad and heartwarming at the same time.
