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It was the stuff of which nightmares are made.
Driving along a deserted country road, late at night, a deer suddenly appears. Quick reaction saves a collision, but the car comes to rest upside down in a muddy, wet ditch, filled with 4 feet of water.
Scary thought? Yes. And it happened to one-time Atwood resident Kelly Chamberlain Sutton. The October 1994 accident still haunts her, but it provides her a different perspective that only a near-death experience can.
It is also providing the producers of television's "Inside Edition" a story line for an upcoming show dealing with surviving vehicle submersion accidents.
"I actually survived eight hours in 58-degree water, with only a couple of inches to breathe in," Sutton said. "I guess that was one of the longest amounts of time for someone to survive inside a submerged vehicle."
It was the uniqueness of Sutton's accident that caught the attention of "Inside Edition" correspondent Craig Rivera and producer Gary Wynn. The actions Sutton took to save her life will now be shown nationwide in hopes others can learn from her accident.
"We did a nationwide search for submerged vehicle accidents," Rivera said. "Kelly's was just one of 11,000 submerged accidents that happen every year," Rivera said. "The fact that Kelly was able to survive for eight hours in 58-degree water is a testament to her tenaciousness."
It also makes her very lucky, Rivera said. Only 15 percent of submerged vehicle accident victims survive.
To help increase those odds, Rivera and "Inside Edition" will air a demonstration, where Rivera himself will show how to get out of a submerged vehicle quickly and safely.
"Once your car is in the water, you only have four to five minutes before it is completely submerged," he said. "The show will tell people to use the POGO principle to save their lives. POGO means Pop (seat belt), Open (window), Get Out."
Sutton followed that advice as best she could, even though she'd never been trained how to handle such a water emergency. Once her car came to rest on its roof and started filling with water, she immediately removed her seat belt and made her way into the back seat. Unfortunately, she couldn't open her windows or doors.
According to Keith Robbins of the Etna Green Fire Department, who, along with Carl Wireman, were the first emergency personnel to arrive on the scene of the accident on CR 800W, near CR 400N. They joined Mike Collins, who owns the farm along the ditch, and tried to free Sutton.
"When we first got there, we could hear her screaming, so we knew she was alive," he said. "The car had sunk into the mud just enough that we couldn't get the doors open. Collins had pried a door partway, but it was still latched.
"When the rescue truck arrived, we popped the door open with the Jaws of Life," Robbins said.
Sutton said the eight hours seemed much longer while she was trapped in the car, but she felt that a guardian angel was looking out for her until the midnight accident was discovered by Elden Stutzman and his family, who were on their way to church early that Sunday.
Stutzman waved down a passing motorist who had a cellular telephone and called in the accident.
"The way the whole thing happened was just a series of things happening in just the right time," Sutton said."The Stutzmans were on their way to church early that day. Normally, they wouldn't have been going to church until another half-hour to an hour later."
That 30 to 60 minutes could have been fatal for Sutton, according to Robbins.
"When we finally got her out, she was very cold. The doctors told us at the hospital that her core temperature was so low that she would have only lasted another half-hour or so," he said.
The fact her story is now going to be told to the nation is both gratifying and scary, Sutton said. She's glad her survival story can help others, but reliving those events was difficult.
"It was hard to bring back all those memories, but it was nice to see all the people who helped save me - the nice Amish man and the EMTs," she said. "It was really nice to see them again."
The experience has given her a new outlook on life, and she hopes other lives can be saved by learning from what happened to her.
"It affects me daily. You're thankful to be alive everyday," she said. "Sometimes, when I get depressed or frustrated with things today, I think that I could not be here.
"Even now, I don't like to drive at night because I'm afraid a deer is going to bolt out in front of me, and I don't like going on roads with deep ditches on the side," Sutton said. "But, it feels good to be here everyday."
With the help of Rivera and "Inside Edition," Sutton's story may help someone else to be here tomorrow. The program is scheduled to air during the week of May 10.
