Two Ohio men hailed as heroes for saving a woman from a burning car wreck are now suing her for the injuries they suffered. Mark Kinkaid and David Kelley say they received serious injuries that left them disabled in the wake of the incident two years ago. And they blame Theresa Tanner. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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“All I know is that I am not the same man I used to be,” said Kelley, the newspaper reported Monday, adding that the flames severely damaged his lungs.
The two men, friends who were driving together along Route 23 in Marion, spotted smoke along the side of the road on March 11, 2009, according to a police report. The pair soon found a crashed 2008 Hummer engulfed in flames and a woman screaming for help.
“‘Help me! Help me! Help me!’ over and over and over, that’s all I could hear,” Kelley told the Dispatch.
The two men suffered burns during the rescue. The heat was so intense, Kelley said, the cell phone in his pocket melted.
“The flames were so hot when we got to her that her hair was melting to her head,” the 39-year-old said.
Tanner later told police that she had gotten into an argument before the crash, and wanted to kill herself, the Dispatch reported. She also said she remembered nothing about the accident.
The 28-year-old spent several months in the hospital after the crash.
Kinkaid and Kelley were honored by the Ohio State Highway Patrol for their bravery in 2009. Now they’re each seeking at least $25,000 for their injuries.
Tanner has not yet responded to the lawsuit. Kinkaid, 43, was jailed last month and has been indicted on several felonies unrelated to the crash or the lawsuit.
Kelley said despite everything, he would not have done anything differently along that road in 2009.
“If it happened all over again today, I would still stop and get the person out of the vehicle,” he told The Dispatch. “A life’s a life, you know.”
