darin
06-15-2007, 04:16 PM
WOW - this breaks my heart! The poor Dad, ya know?
Video report:
http://www.kirotv.com/video/13510109/index.html
Text
Little Christa Whitlow survived a wild ride Tuesday.
Christa, 3, thought it would be fun to climb on the camper top of her father's pickup truck without telling him and ride along as he went on an errand Tuesday afternoon.
Five miles later, after silently clinging to the Dodge Dakota's luggage rack during a curvy, bumpy ride at speeds approaching 50 mph, Christa got tired and let go.
Dressed only in a pink "onesy," she fell some five feet from the moving truck to the blacktop on Jim Hood Road, getting a severe case of road rash. A passing motorist saw her fall and stopped, as her father, oblivious that she had been gripping the truck's luggage rack, motored on.
It would be several nerve-racking hours later that Carey Whitlow and wife Colleen learned what happened and were reunited with their bandaged daughter in a hospital room.
"I asked her, 'Was it fun?' And she said, 'Yeah, it was fun,'" Whitlow said. "I asked her why she let go, and she said, 'I got tired.'"
Whitlow, a social studies teacher at Chestatee High School, said the fact his daughter survived the wild ride with no injuries beyond the abrasions is nothing short of miraculous.
"God had a hand on Christa," he said. "I had to be going 40, 45 mph, at least."
On Wednesday, a full day after the scary episode, Whitlow remained shaken up and guilt-ridden. He said his wife, colleagues, family and church members have been supportive.
"I am not healed from this yet, and it will probably take me longer than it will Christa," he said.
Kenneth Chambers, 19, said he was driving his Pontiac Sunbird southeast on Jim Hood Road near Helton Road shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday when he met Whitlow's truck and saw what he described as a "baby that fell onto the road and started rolling."
"She about got hit by another car," that swerved and continued on, Chambers said.
"After that, she got up and started chasing after the truck."
Chambers turned his car around, stopped and ran to help. He tried his best to calm the girl and clean the blood from her badly-scraped body while he and his brother-in-law waited for an ambulance to arrive.
"It tore me up pretty bad seeing that," he said.
more:
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20070614/localnews/179140.shtml
Video report:
http://www.kirotv.com/video/13510109/index.html
Text
Little Christa Whitlow survived a wild ride Tuesday.
Christa, 3, thought it would be fun to climb on the camper top of her father's pickup truck without telling him and ride along as he went on an errand Tuesday afternoon.
Five miles later, after silently clinging to the Dodge Dakota's luggage rack during a curvy, bumpy ride at speeds approaching 50 mph, Christa got tired and let go.
Dressed only in a pink "onesy," she fell some five feet from the moving truck to the blacktop on Jim Hood Road, getting a severe case of road rash. A passing motorist saw her fall and stopped, as her father, oblivious that she had been gripping the truck's luggage rack, motored on.
It would be several nerve-racking hours later that Carey Whitlow and wife Colleen learned what happened and were reunited with their bandaged daughter in a hospital room.
"I asked her, 'Was it fun?' And she said, 'Yeah, it was fun,'" Whitlow said. "I asked her why she let go, and she said, 'I got tired.'"
Whitlow, a social studies teacher at Chestatee High School, said the fact his daughter survived the wild ride with no injuries beyond the abrasions is nothing short of miraculous.
"God had a hand on Christa," he said. "I had to be going 40, 45 mph, at least."
On Wednesday, a full day after the scary episode, Whitlow remained shaken up and guilt-ridden. He said his wife, colleagues, family and church members have been supportive.
"I am not healed from this yet, and it will probably take me longer than it will Christa," he said.
Kenneth Chambers, 19, said he was driving his Pontiac Sunbird southeast on Jim Hood Road near Helton Road shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday when he met Whitlow's truck and saw what he described as a "baby that fell onto the road and started rolling."
"She about got hit by another car," that swerved and continued on, Chambers said.
"After that, she got up and started chasing after the truck."
Chambers turned his car around, stopped and ran to help. He tried his best to calm the girl and clean the blood from her badly-scraped body while he and his brother-in-law waited for an ambulance to arrive.
"It tore me up pretty bad seeing that," he said.
more:
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20070614/localnews/179140.shtml