Historic Article

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Ex-NFL player aids woman in car crash

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 07/6/2008 3:05 AM | Comments: 0

A former NFL football star from Los Angeles assisted with the rescue of a woman who rolled her mini-SUV several times Saturday afternoon near Falcon Lake and ended up trapped and hidden in a ditch.

Brian Bosworth, known as "the Boz" from his linebacking days with the Seattle Seahawks in the 1980s, said he was on his way to the Winnipeg airport when he approached the accident scene on the Trans-Canada Highway near Whitemouth River.

"I happened to tail in on the backside and there were ambulances and a fire truck. It looked like she rolled at least two or three times because the car ended up facing the opposite direction of oncoming traffic, upside down in the ditch," Bosworth said.

RCMP Sgt. Line Karpish said a 39-year-old woman from Calgary was behind the wheel. Karpish said the woman was travelling eastbound on the Trans-Canada to Ontario. She hit the shoulder, the vehicle rolled and hit the ditch. Karpish said a 26-year-old man from Calgary was also in the vehicle, but he was not trapped.

Bosworth said the wreck couldn't be seen easily from the highway. He said the shoulder on that stretch of the road took a dramatic drop and the car landed in a swampy area.

"She could have stayed there for hours behind a bunch of weeds. Her car was hidden ... . She was very fortunate they got to her so quickly. Her car was crushed," he said.

The paramedics had to use the jaws of life to get the woman out. Bosworth said they dismantled the vehicle completely. He was asked to take a piece of equipment down to the paramedics and once he got down to the victim, he said it was clear they needed more manpower.

"She was in shock and in pain and we couldn't really move her. Her legs were pinned. We had to cut the steering wheel off. She was screaming every time we moved her," Bosworth said. "It took five or six guys to get her into the ambulance. "

Driver and passenger were taken to St. Anne's Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

"I see that a lot in the area, the highways aren't the greatest. They are not very forgiving highways. She's lucky. She just missed the guardrail to the river. This could have been really bad," Karpish said.

Bosworth was fishing in the area with his son.

selena.hinds@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 6, 2008 $sourceSection$sourcePage

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