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A man operating drainage equipment saw Brieonna Cassell’s car
off a road Tuesday near the town of Brook, Newton County Sheriff
Shannon Cothran said in a post on social media.
The man told his supervisor, who is also a fire chief, and they
found Cassell inside the car, conscious and able to speak,
according to the sheriff. Multiple agencies responded, and the
41-year-old Wheatfield woman was extricated and flown to a
Chicago hospital, he said.
Cassell had been reported missing by family members days before
she was found, the sheriff said. She had been trapped since
Thursday night when she fell asleep at the wheel and veered off
the road into a ditch, her father, Delmar Caldwell, told ABC
News. Her vehicle wasn't visible from the road.
Caldwell told the news outlet that Cassell had injuries to her
legs and wrist and that her phone was found under the passenger
seat.
“She was stuck in the car and could not get out,” Caldwell said.
“But she was able to reach the water from the car,” Caldwell
said.
She was able to dip her hooded sweatshirt into the water and get
it to her mouth that way, he said.
On Wednesday, Cassell was in stable condition at the hospital
and was scheduled to have surgery “as there is some concern with
the healing of her legs,” according to Cassell's mother, who
told Cothran, the sheriff, that he could share her status on
social media.
Both of her legs are broken and so is her wrist, according to a
post on a GoFundMe fundraising site set up to help pay her
medical bills. Family members spent the days in which she was
missing searching for her, walking for miles along roads and
ditches, the post said.
“Her outlook for recovery is good but it will be a long road to
recovery,” the sheriff said.
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