News Sentinel
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Seat belts and a roll bar probably saved the lives of three people whose Jeep Wrangler plunged down a bluff off Old Loves Creek Road in East Knoxville.
The trio were rescued early Wednesday morning after a three-hour operation involving multiple emergency agencies.
The Jeep’s driver, Angela Massey, 46; her frontseat passenger, Stephen Pickford, 47; and Pickford’s wife, Connie, 46, who was in the back seat, were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, according to Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk. All three are from Knoxville.
By Wednesday afternoon, Massey and Connie Pickford had been discharged and Stephen Pickford was in stable condition, hospital spokesman Jim Ragonese said.
“The use of their seat belts along with the roll bar on the Jeep saved the occupants from potentially fatal injuries,” DeBusk said.
Massey was driving on an off-road trail when the Jeep dropped 40 to 45 feet, sending it nose-first into the ground. The 1999 Jeep flipped over, trapping all three occupants for about three hours, according to Knoxville Fire Department Capt. D.J. Corcoran. They attempted to relay their whereabouts to E-911 via a cellphone, Corcoran said.
Rescuers were able to follow fresh tire tracks through a maze of trails and found the wreckage about one-half mile off the paved road.
Firefighters, Knoxville police officers and Knoxville Volunteer Emergency Rescue Squad members were able to hoist the occupants one by one in a basket to ambulances.
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