Off-duty police officer saves woman in Apex
APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- A 29-year-old woman survived a crash in Apex, thanks in part to a former police captain who helped rescue her. However, had it not been for a twist of fate, her hero might not have been there in the right place at the right time.
Susan Wilson and her husband Mike, a longtime fixture with the Apex Police Department, were travelling along Apex Barbeque Road around 3:30 p.m. Saturday, when they came upon a vehicle that had run off the road and flipped upside down in a creek.
"We came through the bridge and saw the car and the girl, and he told me to stop the car, and he jumped out, and told me to call the police department," Susan recalled.
Apparently the 29-year-old woman had been going around the curve, looked down briefly and then went off the road, right down the embankment.
"She was freezing wet, the car was upside down, I don't know how she survived that. After her seat belt was off, she fell to the ceiling, was underwater and was able to get out through the back of the window that I guess popped out while she was wrecked," Susan explained.
The woman managed to get to a narrow bed of sand, but was standing there, in shock, unable to move, and the water was much higher at the time, and deeper than it looks.
"It was deep. He's 6'4, and it was over his head. When you look down there it doesn't look that way but the sand was starting to feel like quicksand to him," said Susan. "But now had she tried to step off and get anywhere and nobody had seen her she may have not made it."
Mike threw the woman to safety before he became submerged, but an anonymous Good Samaritan had also stopped and helped get Mike out of the swollen creek.
The victim was taken to the hospital, but her injuries were not life-threatening.
The Wilsons feel that the driver certainly was lucky to be alive considering another young lady lost her life at the exact same spot back in 2006.
There have been other accidents along the stretch, which is why the Wilsons are looking forward to the day that this does get fixed, and they say that day can't come soon enough.
Meanwhile the couple feels they were definitely in the right place at the right time. They were supposed to be seeing a movie, but were returning home early because the show was already sold out.
"Things happen for a reason and that reason we didn't get to see the movie," Susan said.
