LAPORTE — A 37-year-old LaPorte woman was severely injured when a large tree fell on the sport utility vehicle she was driving.
This happened just before 8 a.m. Monday, May 18 on Fail Road just north of the LaPorte city limits.
The woman was northbound when a tree apparently was uprooted from along the west side of the road by winds measured by the National Weather Service at nearly 20 miles per hour at the time, LaPorte County Police said.
Among the emergency responders was Kankakee Township Volunteer Fire Department Capt. Zach Rosiuk, who said the tree landed on the hood of her 2012 GMC Acadia and blocked both lanes of travel.
The roof was also partially smashed in on the passenger side by the tree, which was lifted off the vehicle by a tow truck equipped with a boom, he said.
Emergency responders were then able to safely cut into the vehicle and free the woman from the wreckage without fear of the tree causing further damage and injury to the vehicle and patient, Rosuik said.
“If there’s any sudden movements, the tree could further crush or hurt someone on the scene like a firefighter or police officer,” he said.
The woman was loaded into a medical helicopter that landed in a nearby field and flown to an undisclosed hospital in the area for advanced treatment. Her injuries were described by police as severe but no further light was shed on her condition.
The heavily damaged vehicle was pulled out from underneath the tree, which was then lowered to the ground and cut into pieces by crews with the LaPorte County Highway Department, Rosiuk said.
“My prayers and wishes go out to her and her family that she recovers well,” LaPorte County Commissioner Steve Holfield said.
Holifield, a farmer from the Mill Creek area, said the ground may have been softened enough from a wet spring to allow the winds to uproot the tree.
“It’s just unfortunate this lady was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.
Badayah Brazelton said he felt fortunate the tree didn’t fall on him because he drives that stretch of Fail Road practically every morning about that time on his way home to Michigan City from LaPorte.
He was running about five minutes behind his normal schedule when he pulled up close to the vehicle with the tree on top of it.
“I was praying for the people that it happened to,” he said.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Wind blows tree onto LaPorte woman’s car, severely injuring her
Reporting by Stan Maddux, Special to The Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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