ROUNDUP – A Roundup teen was honored Wednesday for using a device that likely saved her life during a car wreck this past winter.
Sarah Pisle, 17, was driving to an orthodontist appointment in Billings, when she found herself in a snow drift.
“Really it was just a normal day and I was getting ready to head for an orthodontist appointment,” she said.
“It was windy that day,” said Pisle. “As I came around a corner, I saw a snow drift unexpectedly.”
Pisle hit the brakes and lost control of her vehicle. She tried to correct herself but the car passed over the center line. She was hit by a pickup truck driving in the opposite direction.
“That’s probably the worst crash I’ve seen,” said Musselshell County Deputy Jared Johnson. “That’s probably the worst one I’ve been on so I was pretty sure that somebody was dead in there.”
Despite the way it looked to Johnson, who was the first on scene, Pisle and the other driver were both okay. Pisle was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.
“When they took her in for CAT scans and for X-rays, they really expected to see a lot more broken or fractured bones,” said Jennifer Pisle, Sarah’s mom. “She only had the separated AC joint and the scrapes and abrasions and the glass…amazingly. I believe because she was buckled up.”
That belief is shared by law enforcement and first responders on the scene on the crash that day, and on Wednesday they awarded Pisle the “Saved by the Belt” award for her use of the seat belt that may have saved her life.
“Every day you should wear it,” said Pisle. “I don’t care if you’re going half a block to the store, there could be someone at the intersection that just isn’t paying attention.”
Reporting by Samantha Harrelson for MTN News
