Two infants narrowly escaped death late Friday night after a vehicle crash in Goshen Township, Champaign County, ignited a race against the clock for first responders. And the deputies who broke through to save them may have had only seconds to spare.
The crash occurred around 11:50 p.m. on March 13 at the intersection of State Route 4 and Hawk Road, according to the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office.
When the first deputy arrived on scene, the situation was already dire: two babies were trapped inside a vehicle that had struck a fence and was beginning to burn.
A Fortune Rescue
By the time a second deputy pulled up, flames were already visible at the front of the car, reported local news. The back door wouldn’t budge. With no time to waste, one deputy shattered the rear window, climbed inside, and fought the fire with an extinguisher while using rescue shears to cut one of the infants free from their car seat harness. A medic waiting outside helped pull the baby through the broken window to safety. That rescue was completed just moments before fire consumed the passenger compartment entirely.
Both infants — a baby boy and a baby girl — were transported to a children’s hospital. The boy was airlifted, while the girl was taken by ground medics. Their current conditions have not been publicly released.
In the aftermath of the rescue, deputies made contact with the driver, Anthony Blankenship, and noted signs consistent with alcohol impairment. The Ohio State Highway Patrol responded and took Blankenship into custody on a charge of Operating a Vehicle Impaired (OVI). The crash remains under active investigation.
The two deputies who carried out the rescue were not unscathed; both suffered minor smoke inhalation, and one sustained minor burns in the process. A dog that was also in the vehicle at the time of the crash did not survive.
The incident is a sobering reminder of what can happen when impaired driving intersects with the most vulnerable passengers imaginable — and a testament to the split-second decisions that can mean the difference between tragedy and survival.
The car brand was not mentioned in the report, but it does remind me of the multiple upcoming bans against many EVs’ electronic door handles. These are not only tricky to open when in a panic, but they can also malfunction when the vehicle is damaged. This has left many people trapped inside burning cars, some losing their lives.