HUNTINGTON, TX (KTRE) -
A Huntington woman suffered serious injuries when an airborne vehicle landed on hers at a stop sign Thursday afternoon.
"We got a report there was a car accident, a major vehicle accident involving two vehicles," said Huntington Police Lt. Arthur Alvarez.
Alvarez said Martha Jeanette Hudnall, 61, was in a Toyota Avalon stopped at the intersection of Hudnall Road and US 69 around 2 p.m. Charles Gafford, 55, of Oklahoma, who was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee north, on the way to Oklahoma, lost control, hit a culvert in a ditch, rammed through the city limit sign and went airborne, crashing on top of Hudnall's vehicle.
"There were two vehicles stopped on the roadway and he didn't have enough time to come to a complete stop so he swerved to the right, which caused him to hit the ditch and he lost control of his vehicle that was at a stop sign," Alvarez said.
Responders with the Ora Volunteer Fire Department were the first to arrive, followed by Huntington Police, Huntington firefighters and Lufkin firefighters.
"What it is is he went on the grass and there's a culvert in the ditch right here in the roadway when he hit that; it's at a high rise so he went airborne," Alvarez said.
Susie Payne from Tyler said she witnessed the accident and rushed to Hudnall's side.
"It didn't look like she was breathing and then all of a sudden, I was talking to her and she took this breath and she barely opened her eyes," Payne said.
Hudnall's family members rushed to the scene and broke down into tears when they saw her crushed car. Payne tried to reassure them that Hudnall was going to be okay.
"I just started talking to her and held her head and just kind of told her she was okay. She was conscious and was able to answer questions and remember phone numbers, so she was okay," Payne said.
Responders took about 10 minutes to get Hudnall out of the car. They had to cut the steering wheel out. They then took her by ambulance to Huntington High School, where a helicopter took her to a Nacogdoches hospital. As of 4:25 p.m., she was listed in stable condition.
The man was not injured in the accident.
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