Friday night football
This Friday, Oct. 3, the 1-4 Tigers welcome Hinkley-Finlayson to Rush City. The 1-4 Vikings are also at home, against Benilde-St. Margaret's. Kick-off in North Branch is set for 7 p.m. It's 7:30 p.m. in Rush City. Look for results at the Post Review's Scoreboard Plus (above) after the games.
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Woman, child involved in one-car accident |
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UPDATED: Fisherman tells tale of rescue
By MaryHelen Swanson
A 22-year-old woman and a one and a half-year-old child were involved in a one-car accident at Fish Lake west of Harris Friday morning, July 18.
According to Lt. Steve Pouti of the Chisago County Sheriff’s Department, a call came into the county dispatch at 8:06 a.m. from a county highway worker reporting a disoriented woman near County Road 10 and I-35.
When deputies arrived to check the welfare of the woman, she was gone. At 8:15, the call came in on a roll over at Fish Lake.
In actuality, the vehicle, a silver Olds Bravada, traveling westbound, had, on a curve around the lake, continued straight, leaving the road, striking a tree and hitting the water.
Pouti noted that a nearby fisherman pulled the child out of the car.
It was then that multiple deputies arrived, along with First Responders and EMS personnel.
It was reported that the woman, Rachel Marie Sampson, of Harris, was laying in the water near the vehicle. She was transported by helicopter to Regions Hospital and the child was transported by ambulance. The helicopter had to land at the ballfield in Harris for the transfer.
Rachel Sampson was reported in serious condition Friday afternoon. The Sheriff’s Office believes her disorientation was caused by a medication she had started taking.
Rescuing the child
LeRoy Debele and his wife Lenita were in search of some sunnies Friday morning. The sky was cloudless and the lake was calm.
They had launched their boat at the public landing near the Fish Lake beach and were cutting up leeches as bait as they sat in their boat facing the southern shoreline.
LeRoy told the Post Review that he heard a noise and turned around and saw a car flying through the air. The couple’s boat was about 100 yards away.
LeRoy said he knew someone needed help and they headed toward the car.
Lenita ran up the hill to call 911, and LeRoy checked the car. A woman was out of the car in the water which Debele figures was about 3-4 feet deep.
The woman was screaming, so Debele said he knew she was, at least, not in immediate trouble. He checked the car. The only door that was open was the back hatch. He couldn’t see into the vehicle so he went around and looked in the window.
It was then he saw the baby. “The baby wasn’t crying,” he said, “but I could see those little brown eyes looking at me.”
The baby’s car seat was completely dislodged from the car’s seat, he said, and the baby was up to his arm pits in water.
A single strap was holding the baby’s head above water. Debele, who is a grandfather and familiar with child car seats, had to feel around in the water for the clasp.
By this time he was lying in the water and doesn’t remember how he got out of the car.
He then took the child up the steps and handed him to a woman standing on top of the embankment.
He went back down to see if there was anybody else in the car.
“The baby never cried,” he said. “It’s a miracle from God.”
During this time, the mother was in the water in front of the car screaming and Lenita jumped in and tried to calm her.
When he pulled the baby from the car, Debele said he noticed a bruise on the baby’s forehead. Later, when he got to the top of the hill and saw the child in the arms of a man, the bruise had turned into quite a goose egg.
“It was scary to see a car flying in the air,” Debele said, “it was like a movie, we could see the weeds flying.”
“I thought I saw the car roll upside down,” he said, adding that it probably was a good thing it landed in the water which cushioned the fall.
He figures the good Lord had him and his wife there for a purpose that day because fishing isn’t the only thing that occupies the time of this retired North Branch Middle School teacher.
About two days a week he fishes, the others he is at the golf course, he said.
The Debeles sort of lost interest in fishing that day, LeRoy said he was a bit shaken by the ordeal.
At home, they just had to do something, so he went golfing. “But that didn’t go too well,” he said.
Additionally, Debele said he and his wife weren’t eager to be interviewed by a Twin Cities television station either.
Debele is a bit apprehensive about a meeting with the mother.
Her boyfriend thanked him, he said, but added shakily, “I really don’t know, I really don’t know.”
Debele just understands that someone higher up was in control that day.
Besides being in the right place at the right time, Debele had a grandparent’s knowledge about child safety seats.
And as mentioned, he is a retired teacher. The subject? Health. So he would have had the knowledge needed to provide some medical attention, if the child had needed it. But, he said, “Teaching and putting it into action are two different things.”
This comment was received on the Post Review Web site following the posting of the news story about the accident:
“I was one of the county workers that responded to a call that there was a person laying on the road. After checking on her, we asked if she wanted us to call an ambulance for her but she refused, so we asked her to rest in her car for a while and we headed back to the shop. Upon leaving we contacted police. In that short amount of time she apparently left heading towards the lake. After hearing of the crash we at the shop were all very heart broken for the well being of the child and the mother and our prayers went out to them during the rescue.”
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