Family members of a 62-year-old Columbus woman who was rescued from her burning car after a Christmas Day accident believe the two men who rescued her are “Christmas angels.”
Patsy Miller, sister of accident victim Debra J. Stephens, credited Tim Meeks and Johnny Smith, both of Columbus, with saving Stephens’ life.
“I cannot tell you how grateful we all are,” Miller said of the two men’s efforts to help Stephens, who was listed in stable condition Thursday morning at Eskenazi Hospital’s burn unit in Indianapolis.
Meeks and Smith, who did not know each other prior to Christmas Day, were driving southbound on Interstate 65 in separate vehicles and each noticed some smoke coming from an area between a side access road and the interstate at about 3:30 p.m.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
“Not a lot of people would risk their life for a stranger,” Miller wrote to the men on social media. “You two are heroes.”
Smith, who is operations manager for the Bartholomew County Solid Waste District, said he was heading out of Columbus on I-65 south toward his home near Ogilville after attending a Christmas get-together. He happened to glimpse a little smoke off to the right and at first didn’t think too much about it, but then thought he thought he saw the top of a car.
“But the more I looked over, the more I got to thinking about it,” Smith said.
He went off the interstate at the next exit and described it as “running his car pretty hard” down the access road to try to determine what was on fire, which took about three minutes.
“When I got up on it, the car already was smoking going into the back seat,” Smith said. “I threw my vehicle in park and jumped the fence, just about the same time that Tim (Meeks) got there.”
The two could see flames around the driver — Smith went to the driver’s side and Meeks to the passenger side to try to determine if there was more than one person in the car.
Stephens was hunched over the steering wheel, unconscious, Smith said. Although there was heavy smoke and flames, he took a deep breath and opened the door and reached for her arm — only to find that she was wearing a seat belt that needed to be unlatched near the center console, he said. Flames were rolling toward them from the back seat and heavy smoke had filled the vehicle’s interior.
“So I took another deep breath, and stuck my head back in and hit the seat belt,” Smith said. “I burned my hair a little bit on top.”
With Meeks’ help, the two dragged Stephens about 40 to 50 feet away from the car, concerned that the vehicle, which was rapidly filling with fire, might explode.
Smith said he noticed that Stephens forehead and hair showed that she had been burned and he immediately checked to see if she was breathing.
He carefully wiped away smoke residue from her mouth and nose and Stephens appeared to begin breathing more normally.
Smith called for Meeks to toss him a phone to call 911 and the two began talking to Stephens.
“We were trying to find out if someone else was in the car,” Smith said.
They were both relieved when she regained consciousness and told them no one else was in the vehicle, Meeks said. She was also able to tell them her name and at one point told Smith, “thank you.”
“If it had been 30 seconds later, she (Stephens) would have died,” Meeks said of the timing of the two men’s arrival to find the burning car.
Meeks also was driving home southbound on I-65 from a Christmas celebration in the Camp Atterbury area when he saw the smoke on the right side of the road, and instinctively decided he needed to check it out.
“I went past it, to the next exit and then came back on the access road,” arriving at about the same time as Smith, he said.
Meeks and Smith said they had no rescue or firefighter training and had never rescued anyone before.
“It was just all instinct,” Meeks said of working with Smith, even though the two had never met before and did not know each other’s names until later.
When firefighters arrived, Stephens’ 2011 Chevrolet Equinox was engulfed in flames, Meeks said. An ambulance arrived initially and a decision was made to transport Stephens by Lifeline helicopter to Eskenazi.
Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department deputies said Stephens was driving east on County Road 300S when her Equinox left the roadway, went through a chain-link fence and hit an embankment along the interstate, resulting in the vehicle catching fire.
On Wednesday, Meeks and Smith talked with Stephens’ family members and accepted their thanks. The two men are receiving updates on Stephens’ condition from the family and were glad to hear her condition had improved on Thursday. They have exchanged phone numbers and plan to keep in touch in the hopes they can meet with Stephens as she recovers.
“Hey, you do what you gotta do,” Meeks said of the moment that he decided to head off the interstate and investigate where the smoke was coming from. “I hope that somebody would do that for me.”
Smith talked with Stephens a little bit as they waited for first responders in an attempt to calm her, as nearby residents began to arrive to help, too.
The two men later learned that Stephens’ husband had died just a few weeks ago, and that the accident victim has grandchildren with special needs, who she was particularly worried about after the accident.
“I just hope she’s going to be OK,” Smith said. “All of that is a pretty bad deal.”
They have heard from the family that although Stephens is sedated and undergoing checks of her lungs, there is a good chance that she can recover, Smith said.
As for the timing, and Christmas angels, the two men are circumspect about the analogy.
“Another 10 or 15 seconds, I don’t think we could have gotten her out,” Smith said. “But that’s just what you do. I just did what anyone would do.”
Miller said the family doesn’t know why Stephens, who is retired, was driving her vehicle in the area where the accident happened. She often took care of her grandchildren and a great-grandchild, her sister said.
“You know, I just feel like there is a magical thing about Christmas,” Miller said of the two men’s rescue efforts. “I feel like they were angels sent to save her.”
While Meeks and Smith did not know each other before Christmas Day, it turns out that Stephens’ brother, Rex Banks, who also lives in the Ogilville area, knows both of them.
“It just happens that both these men are friends with my brother,” Miller said. “That’s exactly why it’s a Christmas miracle.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Pull Quote” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
“You know, I just feel like there is a magical thing about Christmas. I feel like they were angels sent to save her.”
— Patsy Miller, sister of Debra Stephens
[sc:pullout-text-end]
