'I Feel Lucky' Woman Recounts Terrifying Moments When An Oak Tree Crashed Into Her Car
LOOMIS (CBS13) — Reliving a nightmare that nearly took her life, a Loomis woman shared how close she came to being smashed by a giant oak tree last week. Five days later, she is banged up but back at work.
It was a direct hit that nearly cost Chris Hebard-Summers her life.
"It just came right at me and within I don't know a second it was right in front of me. I put my foot on the brake, grabbed the steering wheel and closed my eyes because I knew I was gonna hit it," Hebard-Summers said. "I opened my eyes and the roof of the car was right in front of my face. I thought it was the air bags but it was the roof."
The tree wrecked her SUV and spared her life by mere inches.
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"For some reason, it just made a little cocoon. There was just a little cocoon in the metal around me," she said.
When emergency crews arrived, they couldn't get her out right away because live wires had fallen on her vehicle. Hebard-Summers said she'll never forget the man in a car behind her who got out and told her it was going to be okay until crews were able to get her out and take her to the hospital.
"The good Samaritan that was with me at the beginning, he followed me down to the hospital to make sure that I got in and I was OK. So this is a great community," Hebard-Summers said.
Her gratitude is branching out into another worry that a tree could come crashing down on someone else.
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"I noticed a lot of other big, giant oak trees that are leaning towards King Road, so someone could so easily they could go out just like this one did," she said.
Hebard-Summers said the treatments to rebuild her broken wrist and hand will take time, but she's happy to deal with it because for a couple seconds she thought her time may have been up.
"I'm happy to be here. I feel lucky. Maybe there's stuff I still have to do," she said.
She sustained so much damage to her hand the medical team had to cut off her wedding ring. It was a sad loss, but her husband of 30 years will be stepping up to replace it.
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