Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994                   TAG: 9408110072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OFF-MARK BASKETBALL LEADS TO MAN'S RESCUE

Wayne Overton and Billy Journell heard someone scream as they were playing a friendly pickup game in the 2100 block of Catlett Drive.

Not knowing where the sound was coming from, they kept shooting. But then Overton, 14, overshot the basket.

"It was lucky we were playing basketball," Journell, 10, said. "The ball rolled down the driveway, and that's when we saw him."

Across the street lay Brian Edwards, 23. His light-blue Volkswagen Beetle had rolled on top of him. Edwards, who is deaf, was calling for help.

Lynn Sowder was in her back yard when she heard the boys yell that a car had run over a man. Sowder, a Salem school crossing guard, grabbed her two-way radio and alerted dispatchers about the accident.

Then she, along with the two boys and another friend, Ginger Flournoy, pushed the car off Edwards. Almost immediately, he pulled himself to his feet, opened the car door and cranked the emergency brake.

``He was kind of like, `My chest, my chest,''' Sowder said. ``He had lots of abrasions.''

Driving another car, Edwards apparently was trying to tow his VW bug into his driveway with a cable TV wire. The thin, black wire snapped, and the VW started to roll down a small incline. Edwards tried to stop the car with his body and lost his footing, Salem police said.

He was treated at Roanoke Memorial Hospital and did not have any life-threatening injuries, Salem police said.

Sowder, who often watches the neighborhood children during the summer, said she is used to having a "pretty wild afternoon." Wednesday, she said, was no exception.