Man going wrong way drives SUV off bridge
Published on 02/13/05
BY ANDRE BOWSER
Of The Post and Courier Staff
A Mount Pleasant man drove at least one mile in the wrong direction Saturday on the Grace Memorial Bridge, hitting two other vehicles before going through the guardrail and over the side, police said. He was listed in critical condition.
The 12:55 a.m. accident, which ended with 20-year-old Trevor M. Barnhill lying on his back in the mud of Drum Island, closed the bridge for more than five hours.
Mount Pleasant police accused Barnhill of driving under the influence. No one else was injured.
Barnhill was taken to Medical University of South Carolina shortly before 2 a.m., nearly an hour after police responded to the scene of the accident. MUSC spokesman Jeff Watkins said late Saturday that Barnhill remained in critical condition.
Lt. Ben Marlow, one of the Mount Pleasant police officers in charge at the scene, said emergency workers had a difficult time reaching the driver. They had to rappel more than 100 feet to reach Barnhill, then they loaded him onto an airboat.
Marlow would not say at what speed Barnhill was traveling, but he said the sport utility vehicle was going fast enough to jump over a foot-tall concrete curb and break through a steel guardrail.
Shortly before 1 a.m., Barnhill got on the bridge going the wrong way, Marlow said, adding that traffic was sparse at that time. One mile later, Barnhill's metallic green 1992 Toyota 4Runner sideswiped another SUV driven by Mount Pleasant resident Charles Clement.
Brian Heins of Charleston said he was driving right behind the SUV.
"Far as I can tell, the whole wheel from the car hit my car," he said. "I tell you, if it wasn't for that SUV, I don't think I'd be here right now."
Heins was driving alone in his 2002 Saturn. His girlfriend was following close behind.
"It all happened so fast," he said. "As soon as it happened, I jumped out of my car. I didn't know if it was her going over or him until I got out and saw her."
It took roughly five minutes for police to arrive. "It felt like an eternity," said Heins, who was ushered away to safety. "The first officer pulled up, shined his flashlight down, and we saw him lying outside of the car on his back," said Heins. "The car looked like an accordion." Marlow said Charleston County Rescue's airboat took Barnhill to Remley's Point, where an ambulance picked him up.
Marlow said his department has stopped drivers going the wrong way on the bridge before, but that he couldn't recall a similar accident. "I've been here 10 years, and I don't remember anything like this ever happening," he said. The accident is still under investigation.
Heins said the bridge has always been a sore spot for him.
"The guardrails are rusty," he said. "What if a tire blows out? Would the guardrail stop me from going over?"
Rescue and EMS responded with Mt. Pleasant Fire Department to a reported car over the Grace bridge spanning the Cooper River. While units responded, communications center struggled to find out additional information as to where the vehicle had landed. Rescue Squad and Mt. Pleasant Fire Department Fire Fighters began responding apparatus to the bridge and boats to Remleys Point not knowing if the vehicle was on land or in the water. First arriving units found the vehicle embedded in the pluff mud of Drum Island just below the saddle of the bridge. The driver had been ejected with unknown injuries, or if he was still alive.
Arriving shortly after the initial responders were Batt. Chief Scotty Taylor Mt. Pleasant FD, Captain Lynn Boat from EMS and Captain Larry Britton with Rescue, together they established a Unified Command and began directing resources and developing a plan for rescue and evacuation.
Rescue and Mt. Pleasant technical rescue specialist rigged belay lines to belay personnel onto Drum Island via a steel ladder of unknown integrity. While members of Rescue, Mt. Pleasant and newly arriving EMS Technical Rescue EMS paramedics continued rigging and getting into harnesses, Kenny Mercer and FF. Dennis from Mt. Pleasant were descending the ladder and arrived at the patient, Mt. Pleasant and Rescue Squad personnel arrived from Rescue Squad boats deployed from Remely's Point Landing.
A quick search was conducted to locate any additional patients and it appeared the driver was the only one. The patient was found alive but in serious condition with several obvious fractures. As they, along with two EMS paramedics, packaged the patient. Rescue and Mt. Pleasant personnel prepared to rig a ladder to serve as a davit to recover the patient. The Rescue Squads air boat arrived and it was decided to remove the patient via air boat back to Remleys Point where he would be air lifted to the trauma center. The patient arrive at Remely's point so quick that Med-U-Care had not landed yet and the Medics on the Ambulance decided it would be quicker to transport the patient directly to the Trauma Center, rather than wait on the helicopter.
Following the removal of the patient, a secondary search was conducted to check for additional patients. Large low pressure airbags were used to lift the vehicle enough to survey under the vehicle, no other patients were found. A thermal imager was also used and proved to be helpful, as the user was able to see construction workers in the edge of the woods watch more than a thousand feet away, he was even able to see people moving around at the boat landing more than a mile away.
