Woman Found Hours After Crash

Emergency crews from Tulsa and Osage counties spent over an hour Thursday morning looking for the disoriented victim of a traffic accident. 

Thursday, September 11th 2008, 11:06 am

By: News On 6

By Lori Fullbright, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- A Sperry woman is recovering, after a close call. She got lost, ran off the road and spent hours waiting for help early Thursday morning. The problem is she had no idea where she was, so it took an army of deputies, firefighters and police officers to find her in a ditch off North Cincinnati.

The woman called 911 at 7 a.m. after crashing the on Wednesday night. She had gotten lost, was in a ditch and had no idea where she was. The search area was huge.

"Turn around and head back south, look for tire marks, skid marks. She can hear traffic, so there's a road that's getting used a lot right now," advised a 911 dispatcher.

She was close to traffic, but she couldn't crawl to help and no one could see her. Vikki Helt was on the other end of the phone.

"She was doing a lot of praying. She was crying, screaming. She was in pain. Every time she moved, she screamed out," said dispatcher Vikki Helt.

Deputies from the Tulsa and Osage County Sheriff's Offices, and the Rock, Osage Hills, Tulsa, Sand Springs and Black Dog Fire Departments were driving around with their sirens on, hoping she could hear them.

"A couple of times she did hear sirens. We had them turn them off, turn them back on, use a different mode, their air horn, so we could try to identify where she was at," said communications supervisor Bryon Schultz.

After an hour and 20 minutes, a deputy saw the top of the woman's vehicle. When the deputy talked to 911 on the woman's cell phone, the word was put out to the troops with great relief.

"It was very exciting. I put him on the phone and you just want to holler, woo-hoo, we found her. It was exciting. It was nice," said dispatcher Vikki Helt.

The woman may have a broken leg, but is going to be fine. She was lucky her cell phone had a full charge on it.

Dispatchers say it's so important to have some idea where you are, if something bad happens, pay attention to landmarks, highway signs, buildings, anything that will help them get to you sooner.