An outing to a Boardman movie theater Thursday night turned into a harrowing rescue effort for three Youngstown residents.
Brandy Clark, her brother, Joseph Clark, and her boyfriend, Chris Williams, were driving southbound on Interstate 680 just before 10 p.m. when they saw a red pickup truck swerve into the left lane and back into the right lane before slamming into the back of a car. The pickup then swerved again, clipping the front of the car and forcing both vehicles down an embankment and into a fence at American Beauty Landscaping.
The three jumped out to check on the victims. The woman driving the car, 72-year-old Lucilla Stanich of Poland, told them she was OK, so they approached the pickup, which had smoke pouring from the engine. Brandy said she and Joseph could see the driver, 26-year-old Damien Brink of Transfer, PA, was trapped and they were pounding on the windows to tell him to unlock his doors, but he was "out of it" and couldn't understand what they were saying.
Soon after, flames erupted from the engine. Brandy said she grabbed a tire iron from Stanich's car, while Joseph and Chris grabbed a piece of wood and the three broke out the pickup's windows to try and rescue Brink, but his leg was pinned. They then started throwing wet leaves and mud on the truck in an attempt to put out the flames.
"The flames were bad. I thought the truck was going to explode and he wasn't going to make it. My brother and them were throwing mud, leaves. We wouldn't give up on him," Brandy said.
"I wasn't going to let a grown man die. I couldn't let it happen. It's just not in me. I am a human being that cares for other human beings," Joseph said.
When the fire department arrived, they immediately put out the flames, but it took nearly 45 minutes for rescue workers to get Brink out. Firefighters were giving him oxygen during the entire rescue effort and a medical helicopter was called. Brink was air-lifted to St. Elizabeth Health Center were he is in stable condition.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol shut down Interstate 680 between Midlothian Boulevard and Route 224 in both directions so the helicopter could land. The southbound lanes remained closed for several hours, but one lane did reopen shortly before midnight.
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