Mableton Man Shares Story of Rescue
He helped pull a 19-year-old woman from a car before it burned on Monday.
The roads were wet in Mableton on Monday. It had been raining all night.
Stefany Caicedo, 19 of Acworth, was driving south on Cooper Lake Road when she lost control of the car and veered into the opposite lane, where Denise Flores, 33 of Mableton, was driving.
The front end of Flores' car collided with the passenger side of Caicedo's gold 2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac.
Kent Osborn, who has lived in the same house near Cooper Lake Road for the last decade, was driving to work as a physical therapist. Because of his fast-acting, he was able to pull 19-year-old from her car, and with the help of other passersby, bring her to safety before the Explorer burned completely.
After hearing about the comments on South Cobb Patch calling him a hero, Osborn chuckled.
"A hero? Really? Yeah, I don't know about that," he said humbly as he recollected details from that morning.
He was driving down Cooper Lake Road, not far from his home and he pulled up on the crash and noticed two women walking.
It was not until later that he realized one of the women was helping the other, who was a victim of the crash.
They saw him and screamed for his help. Someone was trapped in her car and they couldn’t pull her out, they told him.
Within seconds, he was out of his car and peering into Caicedo's Explorer.
“The woman in the car, she looked comatose, not just unconscious,” Osborn said.
He reached into the car to help her.
Caicedo was unresponsive and her eyes were rolled to one corner.
“She was a ragdoll when I got to the car.”
He reached into the car to pull her out and felt blood.
“I got blood all over myself, and realized she was bleeding from the back of the head,” he explained. He held her head and supported her neck as he pulled her from the car.
“You could smell a fire was starting. Steam and smoke were coming from the hood (of the car.)”
By this time, other passersby had come in to offer support. They lifted the young woman and carried her away from the site of her car, which was crumpled and beginning to burn.
“We got her away from the car before it caught on fire. Some little explosions happened.”
The paramedics arrived on the scene.
Osborn said he saw some movement from Caicedo, but it was “not good movement.” It was convulsive arm straightening, like the result of a brain stem injury, similar to what someone in a coma might do, Osborn explained.
Osborn left the scene, canceled his first patient and went home to change clothes before heading to work.
He had seen someone killed just 200 yards away from the site of the crash 10 years ago. A car had flipped and the driver had been ejected from the car.
He was, however, saddened by the entire event.
“It’s saddening, but you just hope that the experts at the trauma center can make progress with her. Hopefully, they can help. It didn’t look really hopeful when I saw her.”
South Cobb Patch will continue to provide updates about this incident and the status of the victims.
Jennifer Anderson Guth
7:42 pm on Thursday, January 12, 2012
The first motorist on the scene of the accident was Chrissy Wasilewski, a nurse practitioner in Smyrna -- she was driving her 2 kids to school. It was she that flagged down Kent because she was unable to get Stefany out of the car by herself. She is also the one that monitored her until medics arrived. I believe the family has two people to thank for saving their daughter, not just one. Let us not forget there were 2 people there, not just Kent.
Monica Caicedo
12:38 am on Friday, January 13, 2012
Hi, I am Stefany's aunt. In the name of our family we would like to thank Mrs. Chrissy Wasilewski, we know that we will never be able to pay her back for saving Stefany's life. If somebody knows a way that we can use to contact her, please message back, Thanks" Caicedo's family.
Kiri Walton
6:29 am on Friday, January 13, 2012
Hi Monica, please contact me at kiri.walton@patch.com, so I can provide that information. I will definitely do a follow-up about Chrissy as well. How great that we have a community with several people who took the time to stop and help!
Monica Caicedo
2:26 pm on Friday, January 13, 2012
Thanks Kiri for message me back. We will be in contact with you.
Thanks to all the people that helped and is currently helping my niece. My God bless you all.
Joe wasilewski
11:37 pm on Monday, January 16, 2012
Any news on how she is doing?