Theresa Smith said a man driving by the crash scene stopped, broke out her window, and held her hand while emergency crews responded to the scene.
“Had he not been there I probably would’ve went to sleep and that’s the worst thing you can do in a car wreck is go to sleep, you may or may not wake up,” Smith told News Center 7’s Natalie Jovonovich. “I at least owe him a thank you because I don’t know what would have happened had he not been there.”
The chain-reaction crash occurred when a car driven by Jean McCarthy, 80, of Fairborn, rear-ended another car driven by Dian Shackelford, of Enon. That collision caused McCarthy’s vehicle to cross traffic and collide with the Smith’s vehicle, troopers said.
The Smith’s vehicle was also struck by an SUV during the crash.
McCarthy was killed in the crash.
The Smiths were both taken to Miami Valley Hospital with critical injuries, but are now living in a nursing home facility.
Theresa said she hopes the man that helped keep her calm while help arrived will come forward so she can at least thank him.
“Even if he doesn’t want to be known, if he can at least see it and he’ll know that his act of kindness did not go unnoticed that night because I’ve said that from the time I woke up, I wanted to meet him,” Theresa Smith said.
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