JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Good Samaritan who stopped to help an 8-year-old boy and his grandmother who were badly injured in a crash on the Northside said it's amazing they're alive.
Police said Mary Windley, 67, was driving north near the Norwood Avenue exit just before 11 a.m. Saturday when witnesses saw her Chevrolet sedan hit the barrier wall and flip. The car came to rest on its roof.
Windley had to be cut out of the vehicle and was taken to UF Health Jacksonville.
Her 8-year-old grandson was thrown from the vehicle.
Myrtle Clark saw the crash, she was a few cars back on I-95, and was amazed and thankful the grandmother and little boy are alive.
"It was just like, so surreal. All of a sudden, it was just like everything slowed down and went into slow motion and you just saw the car flipping. It did one, two, three and I was like oh my God. It kept going," said Clark.
Clark and several other witnesses tried to calm the boy down and make sure he didn't move. A truck driver and another man tried to fee the trapped woman and police say they were a big help.
"Fortunately good Samaritans stopped. A bunch of people helped out and used their cars to block the road to get traffic to go around the child. The child was laying in the middle lane when I arrived," said JSO Sgt. Rob Beers.
"Instincts just kind of kicked in, to do what I can to help at the scene. To see what I could do to make sure that everything was alright," Clark said.
Rescuers rushed the boy and his grandmother to the hospital and though police said neither of the victims were wearing seat belts, their injuries were serious but investigators think they'll survive.
Clark says she's been asking her family and friends to pray with her so that the two people involved in this horrible crash can recover.
"It's amazing that they are alive today. That their family members are not getting ready to bury them," Clark said.