MORGANTOWN — Crews responded to an accident off Cheat Road near the Ices Ferry Bridge at about 1 p.m. Monday April 9, where a car veered off the road and slid down the hill into Cheat Lake.
Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene, as well as the Star City Volunteer Fire Department and Mon County EMS.
Eddie Emery and his brother, Andrew, were driving behind the car when it went over the hill.
“We were right behind her. She was flying down the road,” he said.
Emery said he and his brother witnessed the green vehicle drive over the hill. He said they pulled over, ran to the edge of the hill and saw the vehicle upside down face first in the water, but the driver was sticking out of the back of the vehicle. He said he called out to see if anyone was there and could hear her calling for help.
Emery said they went down the hillside and pulled the victim out, then wrapped her in their coats to try to warm her up while they all waited for the ambulance to arrive. When first responders came, they had a hard time getting down the hill because, Emery said, it’s probably about an 80-foot drop nearly straight down.
“We got her out, got her dry — well, we didn’t get her dry, but we kept her warm. She hugged onto me. I gave her my coat and wrapped her up. Then we just waited for a half hour, hour until the boat came and took us across,” he said.
Emery said he and his brother were in the area because they were working.
“We’re just working. We’re just your friendly demolition workers,” he said.
He said he was relieved to see that the driver, a 70-year-old Fairmont woman, was OK. Her name has not been released. She was transported across the lake in a boat and picked up in an ambulance that took her to the hospital.
“It wasn’t her time,” said Emery.
Ervin’s Towing was on the scene trying to recover the vehicle from the water. The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department confirmed there was only one person in the vehicle. No further details were available for this report.
