MASON COUNTY, Wash. — Witnesses and deputies raced to save a woman trapped underwater Wednesday who investigators say careened off West Railroad Avenue near Shelton and narrowly missed a family’s home, before she crashed down an embankment and rolled her Jeep in Coffee Creek.
“I look out the window and this Jeep is just plowing through my front yard and I said, 'Oh,' and picked up my phone and called 911,” said Elizabeth Avery, who lives in the home nearly hit by the driver.
Avery’s niece Janaya Smart, who heard the crash, told KIRO 7 she and two men were the first ones to reach the rolled Jeep.
She said they tried to break the Jeep’s windows to rescue the driver, whose head was underwater.
"We were trying to but her windows were really strong. We couldn't open the doors;
the doors were locked and it was really bad," said Smart. "Her face was underwater for about two, three, four minutes before we were able to get her out."
The driver, who hasn’t been identified by investigators, wasn’t moving, according to Smart.
The Mason County Sheriff’s Office said, at last check, the woman remains hospitalized in critical condition. Deputies said the woman had a dog with her that’s OK.
“She looked very pale and blue,” said Smart. “She wasn’t breathing.”
Mason County deputies said they arrived shortly after the crash near Highway 101 and were able to break a window and pull the trapped driver out. She was given CPR and taken to a hospital.
Investigators said it appeared the driver clipped a car and dump truck prior to running off the road.
The family at the home she narrowly missed showed KIRO 7 where the driver took out a satellite dish and snapped a tree in the front yard.
Deputies tell KIRO 7 they’re still investigating what went wrong, including whether the driver had a medical emergency.
“My granddaughter left for school and she stands in the driveway where this Jeep came barreling in and she would’ve died if that would’ve happened an hour earlier,” said Avery.
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