'Truly a miracle,' mom thanks God after 2-Y-O daughter survives freak crash with ‘barely a scratch’
A Georgia mom is still thanking God days after her 2-year-old daughter survived with “barely a scratch” even though she was trapped inside her van when it rolled down a hill and crashed just outside her home last Thursday.
“She came out with barely a scratch on her. It's truly a miracle,” Megan Newman, 27, told the Star Tribune Sunday.
Duluth Police Chief Mike Tusken revealed in a statement posted to Facebook that Officer Todd Simmons was on his way to work when the accident occurred. Newman was removing her twin daughters, Bella and Elena, from the van when the van rolled away with Elena still trapped inside.
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“The van rolls away with one of the toddlers inside and into busy Mesaba Avenue traffic, striking a vehicle and lodging into the trees on the steep hillside below. The van was partially suspended in the trees above the ground,” Tusken said.
And that’s when Officer Simmons “comes upon the crash, calls for medical help and enters the van and safely removes the toddler.”
“A scary and potentially tragic incident fortunately ends with property damage and minor injury.
"Thank you Officer Simmons for your timing, quick actions and service to help a very scared mom, child and crash victim,” Tusken stated.
Newman expressed gratitude, telling the Tribune, "I just want to thank Officer Simmons who witnessed it all first hand and came to my daughter's rescue right away!"
She further explained in a GoFundMe campaign seeking to raise $3,000 for emergency expenses how the accident occurred.
“On July 11th was like an ordinary day for us. We went and had an amazing time at the aquarium and decided it was time to go home. When I got home I did my usual put my car into park and emergency brake on since I live on a steep hill in Duluth it’s just a must,” she began.
Newman then tried removing her key from the vehicle and realized it was stuck. She then quickly unbuckled her daughters from the van and managed to remove Elena. She was in the process of removing Bella when she ran into difficulty.
“She was being a stinker and she didn’t want out of the back seat. That’s when I tried taking out the key again and it wasn’t budging, so I decided to go ask for help from my neighbors who were sitting outside,” Newman said.
Shortly after that, she experienced the heart-stopping moment.
“My neighbor yelled ‘your car is rolling down the hill!’ I felt my heart just stop. It didn’t feel real. I bolted down the hill as fast as I could to get to my baby who was in the car un-buckled and I was waiting anxiously for them to get her out! She was miraculously ok! God was watching over everyone on July 11th,” she said. “Ambulance took Bella to get looked over and they were all shocked to see how good of shape she was in as bad the accident was. Especially for not being buckled in.”
