An Indiana State Police trooper is credited with saving a woman’s life after she became pinned between her vehicle and a toll booth.
It happened around 9:20 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8, on the westbound toll road at the toll plaza one mile east of the Indiana/Illinois border.
The trooper arrived to find a silver Buick SUV was against the toll booth with the victim entrapped between the driver’s side and the booth.
The woman, 40, from Oswego Michigan, was unconscious and unresponsive with no pulse. The trooper had a bystander and a toll attendant hold on to the woman as he tried to move the car. As he slowly moved the Buick the woman was freed.
After laying her on her back, the trooper used a defibrillator and began CPR until medics arrived.
Witnesses told police the woman had taken a long time to pay her toll. They saw her open her door to retrieve her debit card, which had fallen to the ground. The woman put her leg out between her car and the toll booth and the vehicle lurched forward, wedging the woman between the open car door and the toll box that the toll gate is mounted to.
A witness pushed the help button at the toll gate and tried to open the passenger door but it was locked.
The woman at this time was awake and speaking but the car moved forward two more times each time wedging her further into the box.
The witness and another male were able to get the passenger window down and place the Buick in park, when the trooper and a toll attendant arrived.
