‘It sounded like dynamite’: Witnesses rescue family after Guilford County crash that left 7-year-old in critical condition
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GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A 7-year-old is in critical condition following a crash in Guilford County that involved a truck and car, according to Highway Patrol.
Shea Requejo-Croft, of Randleman, and her husband Luis Requejo were taken to local hospitals with serious injuries.
A 9-year-old and 7-year-old in the car with them were also taken to the hospital.
The 9-year-old has minor injuries at Moses Cone, and the 7-year-old is in critical condition at Brenner Children’s Hospital.
Troopers say an Archdale man driving a red Ford F250 was heading south on Harlow Drive when he ran off the road to the right and lost control.
He then crossed the center line going the wrong way and hit a dark blue Toyota Camry that was being driven by Requejo-Croft.
The Toyota slammed into the right passenger side of the truck.
“I just heard this explosion. It sounded like dynamite,” Danny Wilson said. He lives about 50 yards from the spot of the crash. He was sitting inside his living room when he heard the explosion of metal.
He described seeing a black plume of smoke when he looked out of his window.
After the crash, he, his son and others tried and help the family.
Danny said it was nearly impossible to look inside the Camry or to get to the family due to the airbags blocking them.
He had to pull out his knife to cut the children out of the backseat.
“I was cutting the airbags across the top so I could get it pulled back,” he said.
At this time, others began to pull up to the scene to help out, including Joshua Stoves. He helped direct traffic around the scene.
“So when we got up here, somebody had already stopped her and pulled the little girl out and was giving her CPR,” he said. “We just blocked the road off. It was just a bad situation all the way around for everybody.”
He then noticed that the driver of the red Ford F250 was his neighbor and was just a few hundred yards from his home.
“He asked us to go get his wife,” Stoves said. “He was able to get out, and he was really upset.”
Troopers say speed was a factor since it was raining lightly at the time of the crash and the truck was going too fast for the conditions.
“This road is just dangerous,” Stoves said.
He said that the road becomes too slippery under the slightest conditions and that it’s a concern he and his neighbors have complained about before, but with little success.
“Nothing ever gets done,” he said. “They blow us off, and that’s fine. But when this happens, it’s not fine.”
As of Sunday evening, charges are pending in this case.
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