Newspaper delivery man rescued after accident in Ashe County

Trapped inside the cab of an upside down pickup truck in an icy Ashe County creek at the New River on Tuesday, the driver was drifting in and out of consciousness as people rallied to save him.

A state trooper and a sheriff's deputy worked in water nearly to their waists, and people who lived nearby went to their homes and brought back tools to pry open the door, according to witnesses and authorities. One neighbor brought a chain that they fastened to the truck door. They hooked the chain to a salt truck that was out treating the ice-covered roads.

"We were able to jerk the door open," said N.C. Highway Patrol Sgt. Jimmy Cox, who was in the water along with Ashe County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Reed. "We got the door peeled back, and he came floating out."

The driver, Tommy Shepherd, 47, of West Jefferson, a Winston-Salem Journal newspaper carrier who had been delivering his route, was taken by ambulance to Ashe Memorial Hospital. He was released Tuesday evening. He plans to be back on his route today, said his father, Bill Shepherd.

"I just thank the Lord for them, that they were there and able to help," Bill Shepherd said.

It was about 14 degrees when Tommy Shepherd headed out to deliver the newspaper. He'd been a carrier for the Winston-Salem Journal for a few weeks.

Winds were blowing steady at more than 20 mph, and Ashe County had whiteout conditions Tuesday morning, with many roads covered in snow and ice. Shepherd had only two or three papers left to deliver when his four-wheel drive pickup truck slid on ice on North Fulton Reeves Road.

"He went into a real sharp curve that was snow and ice covered, with whiteouts up here," said Trooper Vic Gammons. "He drove straight off the curve, over an embankment. He was trapped in the vehicle a good two hours before he got out."

They believe that Shepherd's truck went into the creek at about 6 a.m., Gammons said. It was about 7:30 a.m. when a passing motorist saw the truck upside down in the mouth of Nathans Creek, where it runs into the South Fork of the New River.

The passer-by called 911. Other people stopped.

"It was a real group effort," said neighbor T.O. Richardson. "It was amazing."

Reed, who lives nearby, had been headed home after an overnight shift. He should have gotten off work at 6 a.m., but stayed late to finish up. He was almost home when a dispatcher asked him to check on a report of a truck in the creek.

When he got there, he noticed how low the truck had sunk.

"I really didn't think there would be anybody in it alive," Reed said.

But neighbor Dennis Davis, standing on the creekbed, told the deputy he'd heard Shepherd talking.

Cox and Reed got into the water, which was halfway between the knees and waist of each man, but they couldn't get the door open. The top of the cab had sunk into the mud on the bottom of the creekbed and the doorframe was mired in the mud. Reed estimated the air pocket inside the truck cab at about four or five inches.

Davis got down in the creek with them.

Richardson went and got pry bars and a mallet from home, brought them back and wound up standing atop the undercarriage of the overturned truck in the creek as he helped.

Davis helped the officers pry the door so that they could put some wedges in it, Reed said.

The officers could see that Shepherd was drifting in and out of consciousness. Davis called another neighbor, Doug Carson, who runs a garage and wrecker service, and asked for a chain, Reed said.

Carson brought the chain. The ice scraper/salt truck had been in the area — Reed said they're not sure if someone called it back or it just happened by again — and they hooked one end of the chain to the pickup truck door and had the big truck yank open the door.

In the ambulance on the way to Ashe Memorial Hospital, Shepherd was so cold that emergency workers couldn't register a body temperature.

Richardson said other people helped, and he doesn't think that Shepherd would have lived without the actions of the neighbors and the officers who worked in the ice-choked water.

"(Reed) is top notch," said Ashe Sheriff James Williams. "He's one of my best officers. I'm proud to death of him."

Cox said everybody worked together.

"I didn't do nothing nobody else wouldn't have done in the same situation," he said.

Keith Petty, the Winston-Salem Journal's circulation manager, said newspaper carriers in the mountain counties go "above and beyond" during the winter months to get out the paper.

"We do advise them to do everything they can to stay out of harm's way, even if it means deliveries won't be completed that day," he said. "We are thrilled that Tommy survived this ordeal and thankful to all those who helped in his rescue."