Indiana
Doctors fight to save Indiana woman’s legs after she was trapped in car for six days
Doctors are fighting to save the legs of a woman who was trapped in her car for six days after crashing into a ditch in Indiana.
Brieonna Cassell, 41, was stuck inside her Ford Taurus for six days after her car wrecked into the ditch off a rural road in Newton County, Indiana.
After surviving the harrowing ordeal, the mother of three began treatment at the Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois.
When she arrived at the hospital, she had compound fractures and infections in both of her legs and a compound fracture in one of her wrists.
Cassell underwent surgery on Wednesday afternoon. Doctors are waiting to see if her infections are going to heal before they continue with further treatment and surgeries. If the infections in her legs do not heal, then doctors may be forced to amputate them.
Police believed she fell asleep behind the wheel of her black 2008 Ford Taurus and veered off the road while driving near the small town of Brook, approximately 80 miles south of Chicago.
Cassell crashed into a “very big, deep ditch” that couldn’t be seen from the road, her father, Delmar Caldwell, told ABC7 Chicago. He added that passersby couldn’t hear her cries for help from their cars.
“She was in excruciating pain. She was screaming out for help. She could hear cars going by, but they couldn’t see her from the road,” her father said.
The crash pinned her legs inside the vehicle and kept her from moving, but Cassell was resourceful and found a way to keep herself alive despite being immobilized.
To avoid dying of dehydration, Cassell put her vehicle in neutral, allowing it to slide further into the ditch, where she could then whip her cardigan out of her window to soak in the muddy waters around her car. She then sucked the liquid from her garment.
“She put the car in reverse and let it roll back down the bank to the water, so she could reach out,” Aaron Cassell, her husband, told WGN9. “She could only reach out with one arm to reach the water and then let it soak up in there and pull up and suck the water out of the hood.”
After six days, an equipment operator named Johnny Martinez spotted Cassell’s vehicle and reported it to his immediate supervisor, Jeremy Vanderwell, who is also the volunteer fire chief of the nearby town, Morocco.
Martinez and Vanderwall investigated the vehicle and found Cassel conscious. They then called for medical assistance. First responders provided initial treatment at the scene and then handed Cassell off to a life-flight helicopter.
Cassell’s family has set up a GoFundMe page to help the woman cover her medical bills. Lexie Cassell, Brieonna’s 23-year-old daughter, said her mother does not have health insurance. The fundraiser has brought in $13,000 of its $25,000 goal.
RIPLEY COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — A statewide Silver Alert has been issued for two young children in Indiana.
Police in Ripley County, southeast of Indianapolis, are looing for the children who may be siblings.
The first child is 3-year-old Aaliyah Buckingham.
She was last seen wearing a pink cat shirt and tie-dye shorts.
The younger child is 1-year-old Shane Buckingham, last seen in a red shirt and diaper.
Police think both are with 45-year-old Timothy Buckingham, who was last seen driving a brown GMC truck.
Timothy is described as a 6′ 3″ white man weighing 225 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
Photo of Timothy Buckingham provided by Indiana State Police
Police have not confirmed the relationship of the three, or why the children are believed to be in danger.
Anyone who sees the three are asked to contact the nearest police department.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A firefighter for the Indianapolis Fire Department was sent to the hospital Wednesday after battling a fire at a vacant house.
According to a Facebook post made by IFD, the fire happened around 10:15 a.m. at a house on Bluff Rd. IFD says that there were several complications, including limited access to fire hydrants and “interior hoarder conditions” that IFD says was due to squatters.
The injured firefighter received “slight injury,” the Facebook post said.
It took over an hour and a half to get the fire under control, according to IFD, and another hour to put out all the remaining hot spots in the building.
According to IFD, the cause of the fire is currently unknown. Their Fire Investigations Unit is working on figuring out what caused the fire.
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