Last-minute Christmas shopping is always a bit of an adventure, but luckily it’s not often as extreme as what Creemore resident Angie Cook and her 11-year-old twin sons Jack and Alex Sprecker experienced on December 23.
Like many of us, the trio headed out on a final dash to pick up a few gifts, in their case at about 1 pm with Collingwood as their destination. Unlike the rest of us, the vehicle they were in ended up lying on its side in the Batteaux River, its windows smashed out and many of its contents floating downstream.
“We were going up the Sixth Line, and the road was covered in slush,” remembered Cook this week. “There was a lot of traffic, more than you usually see on that road, and I kept pulling over to the right to let people pass. Just as we got close to the little hill that takes you up to County Road 91, I pulled over to the right again and suddenly the car was fishtailing all over the place.”
At the bottom of the hill she’s talking about, of course, is a bridge over the Batteaux River. Cook’s SUV, a GMC Acadia, slid into the oncoming lane and struck the signpost alerting drivers that they’re about to cross a bridge. It then flipped and plunged 15 feet into the river.
“It was cold, and it was flowing,” said Cook. “I remember the airbags popping and smashing the windows, and then I remember water rushing in.”
Quickly ascertaining the state of her boys – both were alright but could not get out – Cook tried to open the passenger door, which was facing skyward, and found that it was pinned under several tree branches.
At top: Alex, Angie and James. Above: the GMC Acadia, on its side in the Batteaux River.
Just then, help arrived. Two men, who remain nameless, arrived on the scene and were able to clear the branches and open the passenger door. Cook and her sons were helped out of the car, out of the knee-deep water and up the bank to the road.
Another car stopped, and it was the mother of Taylor Dodd, one of the boys’ classmates. Cook doesn’t know the woman’s first name, but is extremely grateful for what she did. Discovering that Cook’s son James has diabetes, the woman – a diabetic herself – jumped into action, putting Jack in her car and helping him use his glucometer to test his blood sugar.
To the boys’ dismay, several of their school library books were seen disappearing down the river, and a Christmas ornament that Jack had made for his dad also disappeared. But their hockey equipment was recovered, a little on the damp side but still in good shape.
For Cook, the fact that all three people in the car came out of the crash without so much as a cut or a bruise was an early Christmas gift, and she admits that when December 25 arrived two days later, the family’s celebrations were a little more emotional than usual, despite the lack of a few last-minute gifts.
“I’m so thankful that we weren’t hurt, and I’m also so indebted to the people who helped us out in the river and on the road,” she said. “We were very lucky that day.”
