Sleepy Eye woman survives harrowing crash

Suffers only

minor injuries

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- An 18-year-old Sleepy Eye woman survived an unusually challenging two-vehicle accident without injury Wednesday morning a half-mile west of town on Brown County Highway 27.

Thanks to the skills and heavy equipment of several public and private agencies and firms, Darcy Lendt was extricated from a partially submerged 1995 Chevrolet Blazer that was pinned underneath a 1977 Mack truck and water tanker in a large drainage ditch.

The driver of the truck -- Vernon Schumacher, 67, of Sleepy Eye -- was not hurt. No rescuers were hurt either.

Sleepy Eye Fire Chief Bob Zinniel thanked his maker.

"The good Lord was looking out on us today. Looking at the situation, it was almost a miracle," Zinniel said. "Nobody around here ever saw anything like it. It took a long time -- about an hour to get her out of the vehicle -- but everything went well."

Utilizing an air chisel and cutting torch, Sleepy Eye Fire and Rescue personnel tried several ways to extricate Lendt from the vehicle before the best technique was found. That included removing a tie rod from underneath the Mack truck so a front wheel could be moved out of the way.

"It got a little hairy in the ditch. The Blazer started to buckle a couple times before we found the best way to get her out," Zinniel said.

On top of that, diesel fuel was leaking from the truck. Sleepy Eye Fire and Rescue countered with charged foam-filled hoses aimed at the trucks.

Zinniel credited the on-scene work of Sleepy Eye Police, Sleepy Eye Fire and Rescue, Sleepy Eye Ambulance Service, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commercial Vehicle Inspection Division, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

"We got our hands on lots of heavy equipment in a hurry to stabilize the situation," Zinniel said.

Heavy equipment owned by Mathiowetz Construction of Sleepy Eye was rushed to the accident scene from a nearby kaolin pile. A portable crane owned by Schaeffer Well Drilling Inc. of New Ulm provided assistance.

Schumacher and Lendt were both eastbound on CSAH 27 when Schumacher slowed to make a left turn into a private driveway, the Brown County Sheriff's Department said.

Lendt did not immediately notice the truck was turning and tried to pass it. The vehicles collided and wound up in the large drainage ditch.

Brown County Sheriff's Deputy Larry Wall praised both drivers for wearing seat belts.

"Darcy said the vehicle was crushed where she probably would have landed without a seat belt," Wall said. "You can replace metal but not lives."

The Blazer was a total loss. Damage was moderate to the Mack truck.