Tulsa City Leaders Stop To Help Crash Victim

Two civic leaders from the City of Tulsa were on hand to help a crash victim Sunday afternoon.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett was driving to Enid when he and his wife came upon a rollover crash on the IDL north of downtown.

A man had apparently lost control of his car and hit a barrier wall at the intersection of southbound Highway 75 and westbound Interstate 244. The car flipped in the air, coming to rest on its wheels, Bartlett said.  The front end was badly damaged and the windshield shattered, he said.

Bartlett stopped to check on the driver who he said was in surprisingly good shape.

"I thought for sure someone had been very severely injured, but he was trying to put his car in gear to get it out of the way," Bartlett said.

Bartlett was concerned about fire with fluids leaking from the car, so he told the driver to turn off his engine. 

"He had no cuts. He was dazed, obviously," the mayor said.  

"Without that seatbelt on, I'm sure he would have been thrown out or at least been damaged by being thrown around. It was very, very violent," he said.

Bartlett said he got the man out of the car and gave directions to responding emergency crews.

That's when Bartlett saw a familiar face, municipal court judge Gerald Hofmeister, walking up the hill to see if he could help. Hofmeister helped direct traffic as it backed up on the highway, the mayor said.

"It just shows you that people need to be involved," Bartlett said. "We need to be involved; we have to be. That's how we're all brought up, to people - to help our fellow man."