Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 19, 1995 TAG: 9507190058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A pair of crashes Monday evening sent 11 people - including four rescue squad members and one girl who was in both wrecks - to three hospitals, demolished an ambulance and knocked out electricity to 300 homes for two hours.
Two of the injured remained in critical condition Tuesday.
James Robert Chisom and Jacqueline Brown, both 15 and victims of the first accident, were in intensive care at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Terra Marie Nolan, 16, the girl involved in both accidents, was in serious condition at Roanoke Memorial.
James Edward McCauley, 52, of Roanoke has been charged in the second wreck with failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
The night started when Chisom, Brown, Nolan and Charles Elmore jumped into a car driven by Kristin Brianne Igo to go to Shawsville to see a Pony League baseball game.
Heading west on U.S. 11/460, the Roanoke quintet came to a bend in the road near Elliston. The road turned right, but they went straight, state Trooper D.I. Compton said.
They careened into the median, shearing off a utility pole before grinding to a halt.
Compton said organizing the rescue was a chore in itself. Four power lines were spread out across four lanes of the road, so the rescue helicopter couldn't land nearby.
Several ambulances, including the Shawsville Rescue Squad, drove to the scene to handle the injured.
The car's roof had to be cut away to free Brown and Chisom, who were pinned in the back seat, Shawsville Rescue Squad Capt. Clarence Walters said.
Just before 6 p.m., all victims were on their way to hospitals. Igo, 17, and Elmore, 15, were taken to Montgomery Regional Hospital, Compton said. But that hospital couldn't handle both of them, so Elmore, suffering from a broken jaw and broken pelvis, was taken to Roanoke Memorial. But compared with what Nolan endured, he had it easy.
Nolan was in the Shawsville ambulance headed to Lewis-Gale Hospital in Salem. Not long before they reached the intersection of Apperson Drive and Virginia 419, Walters said, the crew got orders to head to Roanoke Memorial. So instead of turning right on 419, they continued east on Apperson.
They were crossing the busy intersection at 419 when they were hit broadside by a northbound blue sedan. The ambulance crashed onto its left side.
Nolan and all four crew members were loaded into other ambulances. The crew members were taken to Lewis-Gale; Nolan was taken on to Roanoke Memorial.
Walters saw the ambulance Tuesday. He believes it's destroyed. He's just thankful that the four men on board - who were treated at the hospital and released - are all right.
McCauley, the driver of the vehicle that hit the ambulance, was taken to the hospital but didn't receive treatment. Salem police said the air bags in his car deployed, saving him from injury.
Igo was back at her home Tuesday afternoon.
No charges have been placed in the first accident.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***