Woman recalls witnessing bad wreck in Harrison
County, Mississippi where a truck flipped and ended up by a ditch. Two
teenagers were inside the vehicle.
HARRISON COUNTY, MS (WLOX) -
A Perkinston woman believes she was at the scene of an
accident for a reason. Over the weekend, she said she witnessed a serious wreck
in Harrison County where a truck flipped and ended up by a ditch. Two teenagers
were inside the vehicle.
"Oh wow! Look at that! I mean, it literally scraped
the asphalt," Melissa Bankston commented Monday.
There are still scratches on the road and pieces of
debris scattered along a ditch on Saucier-Lizana Road. They are reminders for
Bankston of a scary scene Saturday night. Bankston and her two young sons were
heading to a friend's house. They were running about an hour late and had just
passed a white truck that was coming from the opposite direction.
"I heard metal, like crushing metal, glass breaking
and that's what really caught my attention. I looked in the rearview mirror and
saw the lights and the trees and I was like, ‘Oh no!'” said Bankston.
Bankston said she saw the truck flip and land upside
down.
"My heart was definitely pounding," she said.
Bankston said she slammed on the breaks and shouted at
another driver to call 911.
"When I saw the tennis shoes on the road, that's
when my heart just stopped," she said.
Bankston said she jumped into the ditch and found two
teenage boys in the vehicle.
"They could have gotten out on their own I'm pretty
sure, but they were in so much shock and they were stunned. They weren't
moving. I was like, 'Come on, y'all got to get out!'" said Bankston.
Bankston said she helped get both teens out of the
truck. However, Harrison County investigators say the boys crawled out on their
own. Even though the accounts of what happened that night are different,
Bankston said she was glad she stopped to check on the victims.
"It makes me feel good, and I hope if my boys, when
they're older and driving of course, I hope if it was to happen to them,
someone would help them like that," said Bankston. "I was at the
right place at the right time, and helped them out a little bit, gave them a
helping hand, and went about my business."
Investigators say the two teens, ages 13 and 18, were
taken to the hospital for minor injuries.