Body camera video shows 19-year-old woman rescued after crash ends in river
By Sean MacKinnon
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LITTLE MIAMI RIVER, Ohio (WLWT) — On her way home from work Sunday in Batavia, snowfall made State Route 222 slick and Andi Burns crashed down a 15 foot ravine.
Her truck flipped in the Little Miami River, immediately swallowed by water and darkness.
“Just remember hitting a tree, I closed my eyes, and I was under water,” Burns said.
After 10 seconds swallowing water, she found the only pocket of air, just a four inch gap at the floorboard while her truck lay upside down.
Her Apple Watch crash detection called 911.
“Oh God please. Please God,” Burns said on the call.
“I’m with you okay, they’re coming,” a Clermont County Dispatcher assured her.
Central Joint EMS Fire District firefighters and Clermont County Sheriff’s deputies and sergeants worked in tandem, calling each other out by name and passing tools between each other to smash the trucks window.
See the body camera video at the top of the story.
Firefighter Tommy Jetter says while he smashed the window, Burns also kicked it out. Adrenaline running, Burns wouldn’t let go of the steering wheel, her head still just inches above the water.
“And he just looked at me and he was just like you have to trust me, you have to just let go. We’re right here. So I just let go and at that same time they yanked me out by my legs,” Burns said.
After the minutes that felt like hours, Andi walked away with only bruises. On Thursday, the team that saved her paid her another visit at home.
“They saved my life, they did. They saved my life,” Burns said. “There’s no hesitation with them.”
“There was probably only four to six inches of air space in the floorboard of the truck where her head was,” Sgt. Bailey said. “The rest was completely submerged, so she really found that magic spot in the truck that kept her alive.”
“I got in the ambulance and I looked over at one of them and I was like am I dreaming? And they’re like no, this is very real. You’re very lucky,” Burns said.
Burns plans to become an EMT in Clermont County soon, making plans with Central Joint Fire EMS District at the reunion Thursday.
Jetter, the firefighter who was first in the water and saved Burns, is in his first year on the job.
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