GARY, Ind. — A woman trapped in a car that crashed early on New Year's Day was rescued after a passerby led officers to the crash scene along a little-used road in northwest Indiana, police said.
Police and emergency services searched unsuccessfully for the car for two hours after a woman called 911 around 3:40 a.m. Monday saying she and another woman were trapped in a car that had rolled over in Gary, police said.
One of the women eventually got out of the wrecked car, which was upside down, and flagged down a passerby who sent deputies to the crash, the Lake County Sheriff's Department said.
Greg Zellers, a mechanic, said he was on his way to work around 6:30 a.m. when the woman stopped him and walked him to the spot where the car had crashed about 150 feet off the roadway.
He told WLS-TV that the car's headlights and taillights were not visible and that there was little traffic on the road in Gary's Buffington Harbor area.
“It's very hard to see from the road,” said Zellers, who sent first responders and two officers to the crashed car.
'They asked me to stay until they got here. I did that, but then I had to go to work,” he said.
The woman trapped in the car told police she could not feel her legs. She was airlifted to a hospital and a message seeking information about her condition was left Tuesday morning for a Gary Police Department spokesperson.
Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez said he appreciated the efforts of the passerby, the two officers and first responders who saved the woman.
“Their dedication helped prevent what could have been a tragedy,” he said in a statement.