LETHBRIDGE – In shock, laying on broken glass in a flipped over SUV wasn’t how Kat Hanna expected to spend her birthday.
The Coaldale resident was on her way to school in Lethrbridge just after 7 a.m. Monday morning when she hit black ice on Hwy 3 just outside of the town limits.
“It was all a blurr, I still can’t remember all of it,” she said.
Bus driver Joani Neufeldt witnessed the whole thing. “I saw it spin and slide then flip in the ditch, so the first thing I did was throw on the hazards and pull over,” she explained.
She and a second person got to the flipped-over jeep, and climbed to the top to free Hanna from the vehicle.
“I just remember people knocking on glass and flashing flash lights on it,” said Hanna.
Neufeldt said she was on the phone with her mother, repeating over and over that it was her birthday. It turns out she had just turned 17 years old that morning.
“I don’t know what I would have done if I was stranded in my car for who knows how long waiting for help,” Hanna added.
Neufeldt was able to get her safely away from the jeep, and explained she wouldn’t think twice about doing it again.
“It was the right thing to do. You see something like that happen and you need to stop it, doesn’t matter what you’re doing,” the bus driver said.
Hanna’s vehicle was totaled, she suffered whiplash and minor bruises from the accident. She added that this birthday will be one she will never forget.