Airman reacts to vehicle accident

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Doug Hays
  • 434th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. (AFPN) --  While some Air Force reservists were just hitting the snooze alarm at 5:30 a.m., Senior Airman Stacey Miller was hopping fences and wading through mud to get to an accident victim recently.

Miller, an aerial porter with Air Force Reserve Command's 49th Aerial Port Flight here, left her Indianapolis home at 5 that chilly morning to make it to Grissom by 7:30.

Her commute took a hard turn when she saw the truck in front of her leave the road, go down an embankment, over a fence and through a tree before coming to rest partially submerged in a pond.

"I knew I had to stop and help," Miller said. "It is one of those things you just don't hesitate to do."

She exited her van, hopped the fence and ran to the injured man.

"The way the truck was in the pond, I wasn't sure if he was completely submerged or not," Miller said.

The truck was nose first in the water at an angle, and the driver's side door was jammed into the mud. The driver was unconscious and was slumped against the steering wheel.

While another passerby waited, Miller ran back to her van and grabbed a crowbar to get the man out of the truck, and a blanket to keep him warm.

Miller and the passerby busted the window on the passenger side allowing them access into the vehicle.

"When we first got there, the headlights were still on but were shining into the water," Miller said. "After about five minutes, they went out and it was totally dark."

Had the accident not been witnessed, the driver could have gone unnoticed for hours because of the time of day and the way he was situated, Miller said.

The driver regained consciousness and after about 15 minutes he was coherent enough to give them his name.

"We kept trying to talk to him to keep him awake," she said. "He was trapped in the vehicle and help didn't seem to come fast enough."

The truck he was driving was a company vehicle, and Miller was able to contact the man's employer through an answering service. Jim Dunn, manager of the fleet safety, answered questions before heading to the site himself.

"It seemed like forever before anyone came," Miller said, "and then all of a sudden it was like the cavalry had arrived."

Firefighters and paramedics worked in the cold water to cut the vehicle away from the entrapped victim.

"Once they got there, I tried to stay out of the way and answer questions from the state police,” Miller said. “Only then did I realize how cold it was. I had been without a jacket the whole time but didn't feel the effects of the cold until then."

Before she left the scene, Miller called her unit to let people know she would be late.

“They said I had the perfect excuse,” she said.

"What she did was amazing," said Staff Sgt. William Archer of the 49th APF. "We're all very proud of her."

"I'd want someone to help me in that situation,” Miller said, “so I didn't think about what I was doing or have time to be scared. I just reacted.”

With mud on her boots, a tear in her battle dress uniform and cuts on her hands, Miller reported for duty at 9 a.m. (Courtesy of AFRC News Service)