Jefferson High School student Andrew Fowler remains in intensive care at Athens Regional Hospital with head injuries, but is now breathing on his own officials said Thursday afternoon.
Fowler and fellow student Dylan Simmons were seriously injured in a two-vehicle wreck Wednesday afternoon in Jefferson on Hwy. 11 near the old Jefferson Mills as they headed to football practice.
Simmons was treated for severe cuts and released from the hospital later Wednesday night, along with a woman slightly injured in the second vehicle.
According to witnesses, the car the two boys were driving reportedly skidded sideways in a sharp curve next to the old Jefferson Mills building as the vehicle headed west. A pickup truck heading east toward Jefferson struck the car in the right rear, tossing the car into a nearby ditch with its nose down against a culvert. The passenger side door came open and the two boys fell out of the car into a water-filled ditch.
A nurse driving behind the truck and a man working a few feet away quickly responed to the incident and found Simmons lying on top of Fowler, with Fowler submerged totally under water in the ditch. The two were able to move Simmons enough to allow Fowler's head to be brought up for air.
Jefferson police, fire and rescue responded to the scene, along with county ambulances.
Most members of the JHS football team who had assembled for practice just a mile away also came to the scene as their classmates were were being attended by EMS officials.
Rescue workers and volunteers work to stabalize two JHS students who were thrown into a water-filled ditch following a bad wreck Thursday afternoon on Hwy. 11 in Jefferson. A woman in the pickup truck was also injured. All three were transported to area hospitals.
One JHS student still in hospital following Wed. wreck
We Thank each and everyone one of you for your love and support for our son Andrew. May GOD Bless each and every one of you.
THE FOWLER FAMILY
Is it because they are football players that we are quick to lift them up in prayer but don't even mention the innocent person who was involved? I hope that was just an oversight by the first seven who commented.
She and her family, as well as the boys and their families, are in my prayers.
One of the downsides of being in the towing business and working wrecks is that one will encounter circumstances such as these where seat belts were not in use. Please believe me when I say that I have personally witnessed first hand that you will have a multi-fold better chance of sustaining less injury when you use a seat belt. This situation clearly demonstrates this fact. Please buckle up everyone.....PLEASE!
The Delaney family would like to extend our best wishes for recovery to the young men who were seriously injured, to Joey and his grandmother. I couldn't help but to think of those two children all day today, and their families. God Bless all of you.
Gloria daughter Frances
That's why as a community we need to be praying for our kids safety daily because they will not always make safe decisions but God is always in control.