To avoid being hit by a swerving truck during a multi-car crash, a Kansas State University student leaped from a 70-foot-tall overpass. Miraculously, she survived and is recovering in a hospital.
Authorities posted on social media that the Manhattan Fire Department responded to a four-car collision on Highway K-18 near the East Riley Avenue off-ramp in Ogden, Kansas, on Saturday.
Witnesses said a woman standing on the bridge’s shoulder leaped off to avoid being struck by a truck swerving to avoid debris. She suffered “major injuries” after falling about 70 feet.
Local emergency services were key to her safe rescue after the fall
According to the Riley County Police Department, Riley County Fire District #1 and Riley County Emergency Medical Services assisted in the search for the student, identified as 21-year-old Kyra Kinnison, a junior studying animal science, and offered assistance. When the Manhattan Fire Department arrived to help, they lifted Kinnison from the area beneath the bridge using high-angle rescue equipment.
“Manhattan Fire Department is grateful for the coordinated response by all agencies involved,” said MFD Battalion Chief Keith Habbart. “The quick thinking, teamwork, and professionalism shown by responders helped ensure the patient could be rescued and transported for further care.”
“We appreciate all the coordination amongst the agencies and responders on scene,” said RCFD #1 Fire Chief Doug Russell. “We’ve built trust over many years of working side by side, and that trust matters when people need us to work together quickly and effectively like we did for this rescue.”
How did the fall from the overpass happen?
Sara Celeen, one of Kyra Kinnison’s close friends, told WIBW News that Kinnison and her boyfriend, Dalten Grabast, were traveling in separate cars to Salina, when they came upon debris on Highway K-18.
“[Her boyfriend] swerved around it and stopped. And [Kyra] pulled over to the side of the road, and then, a vehicle crashed into his vehicle,” Celeen said.
As Kinnison was walking along the shoulder of the overpass a truck approached her at full speed, putting her in danger while more oncoming cars crashed.
“She jumped back to get out of the way, and the railing is not very good; you can easily lean over it and fall,” Celeen said.
She suffered some serious injuries, but is already on the road to recovery
Although Kyra Kinnison survived the fall, she sustained severe back fractures, as well as others to her pelvis, tailbone, and several vertebrae.
“It felt like an eternity because I didn’t know the condition she was in or if I was going to lose the love of my life or not,” her boyfriend told DailyMail.com. “Once they got her up on the bridge I walked beside her while she was on the stretcher to EMS and let her know I was there with her, and that I loved her.
“It’s a miracle she ended up in the condition she is in. After the fall with the support of a walker she was able to walk a little under 48 hours of the accident happening/”
Celeen, created a GoFundMe to cover Kinnison’s rent, medical bills and “anything else she needs.”
“I visited her yesterday with lots of gifts from coworkers and friends,” she wrote alongside a selfie of them in a hospital room. “Kyra says thank you to everyone who has been supportive and that she loves and misses everyone!”
Strangely enough, Kyra Kinnison wasn’t the only 21-year-old female college student to miraculously survive a serious fall this week.
Another college student also survived a multi-story fall this week
On Saturday, 21-year-old University of Georgia student Kristin Sargent fell from an eighth-floor window at the Rambler Athens apartment complex in Athens, Georgia, while “dancing on a couch or air mattress.” She was reportedly near an open window when she fell through the screen.
Sargent’s injuries were not revealed, but she is currently recovering in intensive care.
“She was talking to one of her friends and saying, ‘Hey, I’m alive. I can’t believe it,’” said her father, Richard Sargent, adding, “She’s a good fighter, and so she’s going to be okay.”