Clay, NY -- A woman was pulled from her burning Mercedes Benz just after she rolled the car on Wetzel Road in Clay and crashed into a power pole. Rose Spinella, 73, of Scott Lane, Salina, suffered minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph's Hospital following the 12:04 p.m. crash. Mark Merwin, 45, was in his...
View full sizeA deputy walks past the Mercedes Benz that rolled over and crashed shortly after noon on Wetzel Road in Clay.Clay, NY -- A woman was pulled from her burning Mercedes Benz just after she rolled the car on Wetzel Road in Clay and crashed into a power pole.
Rose Spinella, 73, of Scott Lane, Salina, suffered minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph's Hospital following the 12:04 p.m. crash.
Mark Merwin, 45, was in his van getting ready to return to work after lunch at his home on Wetzel Road when he said he heard squealing brakes and looked into his rear-view mirror in time to see the car hit the pole, he said.
“I jumped out and I noticed the car was on fire,” Merwin said.
Merwin tried calling 911 and then dashed across the street to the smoking and burning car. Above him, the power pole was sparking and leaning ominously over his head. The woman whose yard the car came to rest in came out to help, he said.
While the neighbor held the door, Merwin went into the car to get the driver, now suspended upside down.
“I reached up and undid her seatbelt and she dropped into my arms,” he said.
After he got Spinella out of the car, fire and police were arriving. A deputy put out the car fire with an extinguisher, he said.
He talked to Spinella and she told him she remembered closing her eyes knowing she was going to crash and prayed. When she opened her eyes again, Merwin was there at her side, he said she told him.
Deputies said Spinella was going west on Wetzel Road before striking the pole near Heritage Drive. She was taken to a local hospital following the crash, deputies on the scene said.
Medical problems caused Spinella to drift off the north side of Wetzel Road and became airborne after going into a ditch and hitting a driveway, deputies said. Spinella was the only person in the car at the time of the crash.
The accident knocked out electricity to more than 1,000 National Grid customers, utility spokeswoman Courtney Quatrino said. Workers restored power to most of them by 1:40 p.m., but 232 homes and businesses remain without electricity and will not get it back until the utility pole is replaced, she said. She estimated that may take until 5 or 6 p.m.
Staff writer John Mariani contributed to this report.