Mentone Man RescuedFULTON COUNTY - A Mentone man was rescued early Wednesday morning after he tried to rescue family members stuck near a collapsed road.
At around 1:20 a.m. Wednesday, Mentone Police Officer Terry Engstrand responded to a call of a man submerged in water on CR 825E in Fulton County.
When Engstrand arrived, he saw a Chevy Tahoe, driven by Kale Thompson, serving as a sort of bridge over a part of the road that had collapsed. Behind Kale's vehicle was a Chevy Tahoe driven by his wife Beth Thompson.The Thompsons, along with Beth's brother Josh Carter and two small children, a 4-year-old and 2-month-old, were out of their vehicle and screaming for help as Beth and Carter's father, Tim Carter, had gone down stream in the creek that intersects the road.
Tim Carter was called on scene by his family after the road collapsed in an attempt to help his family.
Wednesday morning's accident took place less than a half mile from a similar accident in early 2008 where two small children died. Engstrand was also the first on scene at that accident as well.
"When I got there I did have flashbacks (of the other accident)," said Engstrand.
Before anyone else arrived, while at the scene, Engstrand put on a rescue suit and grabbed a rope, trying to located Carter. By the time Engstrand could locate Carter's voice, Carter was 40 yards downstream holding onto a small tree that was six inches in diameter.
Mentone Town Firefighter Jeremy Lybarger then arrived on scene and was able to remain in contact with Carter.
Due to his distance from Carter and the sounds of the water, Engstrand and Carter had difficulty communicating. At one point, Engstrand took off his rescue suit, tied it to his rope and tried to swing it toward Carter.
Carter, who suffered mild hypothermia, was rescued within minutes of emergency personnel arriving.
"It's good to have a happy ending, " said Mentone Fire Chief Mike Yazel who lauded both his crews, EMS and the police for their response to the rescue.
