ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997 TAG: 9704240037
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA |THE ROANOKE TIMES|
Virginia Tech student survives fiery car crash after her boyfriend crawls through flames to drag her from the burning car.
Maria Goldsby is out of the hospital, but she remembers nothing about the fiery car crash early Sunday that put her there.
Her boyfriend, Gerald N. Close, crawled through flames twice to drag Goldsby to safety. He remembers a roaring sound, hitting the brakes and the fact that the roaring sound didn't stop.
The roar was a column of fire more than 70 feet high fed by a natural gas station the car had plowed through during the wreck.
"My eyes were open through the whole thing," Close said Wednesday.
Police are still investigating the accident that occurred about 7 a.m. Sunday at South Main Street and Yellow Sulphur Road in front of Hokie Honda. Close and Goldsby, a steady couple for the past five years and both 21, were on their way back into town after a visit to their hometown of Newport News.
The couple share four newspaper routes for The Roanoke Times and had been driving from Newport News since before 3 a.m. to make sure to get back in time to deliver the more than 300 papers they handle seven days a week.
Close said he doesn't remember how the wreck began, but police said the car he was driving left the road, came back on the road and then Close lost control of it. The northbound car ran off the right side of the road again and hit a small cedar tree, the natural gas station, and flipped over on its roof before striking a telephone control box.
During the wreck the front windshield fell out making it relatively easy for Close - who was hanging upside down - to undo his seat belt and crawl out of the car.
That's when he realized his girlfriend, who had been asleep when the car ran off the road, was nowhere to be found.
"The car was already on fire," Close said about his frantic search for his girlfriend.
Unable to see her through the flames, Close charged through the wall of fire to reach Goldsby. She was strapped in the overturned car by her seat belt and bleeding profusely from her head.
"She was semiconscious, and I struggled with the seat belt and dragged her out," Close said.
Confused by the flames or the fact that she may have believed her boyfriend was still in the car, Goldsby crawled back toward the car, Close said.
With flames singeing his ears, burning his face, mouth and hair, Close crawled after Goldsby, grabbed her and carried her across the street. There he took off his jacket to use as a compress on her gaping head wound.
Within 10 seconds, Close said, he heard a loud pop and turned to see the car engulfed in flames. An inspection of the vehicle later showed nothing remained inside but the metal frame. The interior burned or was melted by the intense heat. The fire even melted a nearby hotel sign.
Both were hospitalized after the wreck. Goldsby was transferred to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital where she was listed in critical condition Sunday night.
Despite bandages on his blistered hands and medication on his face and head to combat the first- and second-degree burns he suffered in the ordeal, Close helped newspaper circulation workers Wednesday deliver papers on the routes he and his girlfriend normally deliver. Both he and Goldsby declined to have their pictures taken because of their injuries, but one would be remarkably impressed at how well they look.
Goldsby said she still suffers from pain and extreme dizzy spells. Her pain is no surprise considering she had a fractured skull and severely lacerated knee.
Her injuries will keep Goldsby from finishing the semester at Virginia Tech where she is double-majoring in sociology and psychology, she said. Reading for only a few moments makes her head hurt, she said. She does not know if she will have to repeat the semester or return to Newport News to live with her parents while she recovers.
Her parents, Victor and Erlinda Goldsby, have been in town since the day of the wreck. Their concern shows on their faces as they watch their daughter with her arms wrapped around a large, stuffed dog as she recounts her injuries.
Victor Goldsby said he has been impressed by the kindness of people in the community. He said everyone the family has dealt with has been helpful. He is also appreciative of Close's quick action to save his daughter.
"I'm very thankful he was able to maintain consciousness and remove her from the car," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Gerald Close (right) pulled his girlfriend Maria Goldsbyby CNB(left) from a burning vehicle Sunday.