Posted 2:05 am Tuesday, May 22, 2012
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East Texas Woman Saved From Burning Wreckage
By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
LINDALE -- Standing on the blacktop surface of Farm-to-Market Road 16 just west of Lindale, Charles McKenzie shook his head as he stared at the smoking heap of metal that was once his daughter's vehicle.
He was thankful his 22-year-old daughter and his 2-year-old grandson were safe.
"God had to be a part of this, because there is no other way to see it. My mind is blown," he said.
The accident happened shortly before 11 a.m. Monday when McKenzie's daughter Roshandra and his grandson Elijah left McKenzie's shop headed home.
"I saw the police go flying by and that always alarms me, only this time it was one of my family," McKenzie said.
Lindale Fire Chief Jerry Gardner said when his units arrived the vehicle was fully involved with fire.
"This could have had an entirely different ending," he said.
But how did the young mother escape the confines of the twisted burning metal so quickly?
Lindale Police Chief Dan Somes said there happened to be someone working nearby who ran to assist the woman.
"That guy right there is the one who pulled her and the child out of the car," he said pointing toward Barry Barnes, who was working with a crew of men on utility lines.
"We heard the accident and then saw the smoke. I ran down and the car was smoking real bad," he said.
Barnes didn't want to take any credit for saving the woman and child and said he just did what he had to do and would do it again.
Although the car was on fire, Barnes climbed up onto the side the vehicle, which was its passenger side, and helped the woman get her child out and then pulled her out.
"I'm shook up and I'm still shook up. I didn't even think about it. There wasn't that much to it. It scared me; my adrenaline was going pretty good," he said.
McKenzie said he hoped the accident would help him reach his daughter and get her to listen to him about life.
"Maybe this will wake her up. As for me, I am just very happy no one is dead. Jehovah was watching over her," he said.
