|
Local man pulls woman from Caney Fork Creek after wreck
By Justin Goble
A Western Carolina University professor was rescued from Caney Fork Creek by local real estate agent Fred Bauknecht after her car flipped over.
According to a report on file with the N.C. Highway Patrol, anthropology professor Jane Brown flipped her vehicle around 9 a.m. March 11. Brown was exceeding safe speed for conditions and travelling into a sharp curve when the accident occurred, the report states.
Brown was in her vehicle when it landed upside down in the creek. It was after she freed herself from the wreckage that Bauknecht saw her floating down the stream.
“I had just taken my son to Cullowhee Valley School,” he said. “I was going back up Caney Fork and after I passed the big red barn I saw a lady coming down the river really fast. It had been raining a few days before that and the water was up really high. She wasn’t that far from her car when I saw her. The passenger door was open and she must have gotten out through there.”
Bauknecht said he pulled his car over and jumped into the creek to pull Brown out. After getting her onto the bank opposite the road, he ran to the nearest house to call 911.
“It was really cold outside, so I got a bunch of blankets too,” he said. “I noticed her ankle was pointed the opposite way. It was either badly twisted or broken. Her hand was mangled pretty badly too. I didn’t know what happened. I asked her about her hand and she said it was fine. The bad thing was she was on the wrong side of the creek, so I had to keep crossing it. I thought about carrying her across to the other side, but she was hurt pretty bad and I didn’t want to make it worse.”
Bauknecht said he spent almost an hour with Brown before paramedics arrived.
“It was a really long time,” he said. “It was really cold out that day. I know by the time I got home my legs were purple. You could see her hand was hurt really bad. I mainly tried to get her to talk about her family and keep her awake. I was afraid she was going to go into shock for a while.”
Brown was airlifted to Mission Hospitals in Asheville, where she is listed in serious condition. Even after she was in such a bad accident, Bauknecht said Brown was a tough woman.
“She definitely was not a ‘damsel in distress,’ ” Bauknecht said. “When I saw her coming down the river, she was fighting current. The whole time I was with her, she didn’t cry, whimper or whine.”
As for being the one to pull Brown out of the water, Bauknecht said felt like he was only being “a good neighbor.”
“I have elderly parents that live up on Caney Fork, and I hope someone would go into the river for them,” he said. “I was an Eagle Scout for a very long time, and one of the big things you learn there is helping others. I’m just glad I was at the right place at the right time. By that point everyone had gone to work. Had she been there by herself, no one would have seen her.”
|
