Elizabeth
Wolthoff, 23, of Bergenfield, apparently swerved to avoid hitting a truck on
the Route 80 Hackensack River bridge Friday morning, causing her Toyota Rav4 to
hit a snowbank, become airborne and plunge to the ground below. She and
passenger Rebecca Winslow, 25, had to be cut from the vehicle by firefighters,
but they were alive and coherent, according to reports.
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
HACKENSACK, NEW JERSEY:
Two women
survived a 60-foot death-defying dive when their SUV plunged from a New Jersey
bridge Friday morning, according to reports.
The driver,
Elizabeth Wolthoff, 23, of Bergenfield, apparently swerved to avoid hitting a
truck on the Route 80 Hackensack River bridge around 7 a.m., NJ.com reported.
Wolthoff’s
Toyota Rav4 hit a snowbank, went airborne and plummeted to the ground below,
police told the website.
Miraculously,
the car landed upright, in an empty lot just 20 feet from the nearby frozen
river.
“When the
(SUV) hit the snowbank, it acted almost like a ramp and catapulted that vehicle
right over the wall of the highway,” Hackensack Police Director Michael Mordaga
told NJ.com.
Arriving
firefighters found Wolthoff and passenger Rebecca Winslow, 25, trapped inside
the crumpled car, according to officials.
First
responders had to cut the pair from the mangled vehicle, and they were amazed
to find the women alive.
“You're
thinking the worst-case scenario, but you”re hoping for the best,” said city
fire Lt. Justin Derevyanik to the website. “They were completely coherent. They
just kept asking how long it was going to be to get them out.”
The women
were taken to Hackensack University Medical Center to be treated for neck and
back pain, according to authorities.
Diane
Wolthoff, Elizabeth's mother, told NJ.com her daughter was undergoing back
surgery and suffered several broken bones.
“They were
really lucky,” Wolthoff said. “I was blessed today.”
The crash
remained under investigation, although in similar accidents speed has been the
main factor. If the driver was going
slower, she should not have become airborne.
As we always advice, it is better to go late in your destination, than
to go in a hurry in your final destination.