‘I Was Really Lucky’
Local Woman and 1-Year-Old in Roll-Over Accident
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
HOUSTON COUNTY – Brittani Fleming was driving into Crockett on what was supposed to be a pretty standard and boring day. Her one-year-old nephew rode in his little seat in the back. It was the kind of drive we do almost automatically, without thinking. Running errands, trying to get things done, almost running on autopilot. In an instant, Fleming would end up face down with her car on top of her, with a mouthful of muddy water and could feel the blood running down her face. She could hear her little nephew crying in the back seat.
Crying, she thought, isn’t good – but silence from that backseat could mean something so much worse.
The Messenger, along with our readers, is getting pretty fed up with the number of crashes along our highways. The fatalities, the near-misses, the injuries, the “that-scared-the-life-out-of-me” and the too-often moment of panic and prayer, followed by relief, wondering what that other guy was thinking.
There are long-term plans in the works to try and widen certain roadways, like Hwy. 19 from Lovelady to Crockett, desperate in need of passing lanes. The growing pains, however, are proving to be just as deadly. The lane closures, construction crews and loose gravel along the shoulders can be just as tricky to navigate as any packed Houston freeway.
As of writing this story, a young family friend was caught in a one-car accident. Hurt, but otherwise alright, it is a miracle the news wasn’t worse, the phone call shattering. Most people who don’t have to write about these incidents for a living forget how close we come, all too often, to not making it home, at all.
It was that loose gravel on the shoulder which caught Fleming’s car, sending her flying across the road. We were grateful she was willing to speak with us about the incident. There are some unscrupulous media outlets who publish pictures and even names of those injured or deceased in such events without permission – for likes or clicks. There is a name and a grieving family behind each of these accidents, people who’s lives are changed forever, in an instant – and that is not something we are prepared to disrespect.
Fleming was using a family member’s vehicle, since her own car wasn’t in the best shape as she drove a little after 6 p.m. on Hwy. 21 headed toward Crockett.
“I hit loose gravel and slid off the road and when I tried to correct it, I started spinning
and flipped my vehicle several times,” Fleming remembered. “I was going into town and after the accident was over with, my vehicle was facing going back out of town. I landed on a barbed-wire fence and had a T-post they said was inches from going into my head.”
While some times in our lives seem to fly by, Fleming lived this moment in cinematic slow motion.
“I was even able to count how many times my car flipped and everything,” Fleming said. “I never lost consciousness or anything – I flipped about two or three times for sure.”
Unable to move, Fleming found herself trapped – pinned under the car – now on top of her.
“The roof was crushing my seat, it had broken the driver-side seat. I was covered in debris. I was covered in coolant. I had some cuts on my arm and hands from the glass and everything,” Fleming recounted. “Blood on me – I was bleeding from my head and I had muddy water all over me, grass, cow hair. I had everything over me.”
Hearing the baby crying and wondering what to do next, the owners of the field she had crashed into came running and were able to quickly get the baby out of the car seat. Being contacted about the accident, Fleming’s sister raced to the scene. A volunteer for Belott Fire Department, she beat the fire engines to the crash. A worried mother can sure move fast when she needs to.
Moving the steering wheel and with a little pushing and shoving, they were eventually able to get Fleming out, too. Taken to the hospital with a mild concussion, Fleming soon came to another realization.
“I realized immediately how lucky I was and how lucky the baby was, that nothing worse happened,” Fleming recalled. “And, then once they said I had no broken bones or anything, I thought, ‘Man, I was really lucky,’ because that could have been so much worse.”
Fleming still has a sore arm which won’t raise, but the cuts and bruises are healing. The physical part will be alright. The mental part is harder to heal.
“Every time I close my eyes, I have nightmares. Between the pain and the nightmares, I’m getting maybe two hours of sleep at night,” Fleming noted. “I have flashbacks all the time.”
Fleming pointed out she wasn’t speeding, there was plenty of light, and she was on a road well known to her and one she travels often. Experts will tell you it’s on our most common drives when we tend to have accidents – it’s just too easy to be overconfident and “zone out.”
Since then, Fleming hasn’t been able to do more than 30 miles per hour, still afraid of what she now knows can happen in the blink of an eye.
“Let them pass me,” she said. “I don’t care.”
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
