Brook, Ind. — An Indiana woman trapped in a car due to a severe leg injury survived nearly a week by sucking water from a sweatshirt she had soaked in a small stream, authorities said.
Newton County Sheriff Shannon Coslan said in a social media post Tuesday, a Breonna Cassell car near the town of Brook.
The sheriff said the man told the supervisor, who is also the fire chief, that Cassel could speak consciously inside the car. Multiple agencies responded, and the 41-year-old Wheatfield woman was escaped and flew to a Chicago hospital, he said.
According to the sheriff, Kassel was reported missing a few days before his family was found. When she was trapped since Thursday night, she fell asleep on the wheels and ran down the road towards the ditch, her father, Delmar Caldwell, told ABC News. Her car was not visible from the road.
Caldwell told the news outlet that Kassel had injuries to his leg and wrist, and his cell phone was found under the passenger seat.
“She was locked up in the car and couldn’t leave,” Caldwell said. “But she managed to get to the water from the car,” Caldwell said.
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She could soak her hooded sweatshirt in the water and then soak it in her mouth, he said.
On Wednesday, Kassel was in stable condition at the hospital and was scheduled to undergo surgery “as she was concerned about the healing of her feet.”
Her wrists are also broken as both legs are broken, according to a post on the GoFundMe funding site set up to help her pay for her medical expenses. The family spent days when she missed her search, walking miles along roads and ditches, Post said.
“Her recovery prospects are good, but that’s going to be a long way to recovery,” the sheriff said.
