Four-year-old boy ejected from SUV

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

North Warren firemen inspect the wreckage of the vehicle driven by Emily Lewis after she lost control on rain-slick Short Mountain Road and flipped the SUV into a field. Her 4-year-old son was ejected during the crash. (Duane Sherrill photo)

A mother and her two young children were injured Monday morning when their vehicle skidded off rain-slick Short Mountain Road and rolled, throwing a 4-year-old boy from the wreckage.

The mother, Emily Lewis, 24, along with her son, 4, and daughter, 11 months, were all taken to River Park Hospital by ambulance following the 9 a.m. crash.

According to Warren County Sheriff?s Lt. Jody Cavanaugh, Lewis was heading toward McMinnville on Short Mountain Road in a borrowed 1994 Toyota Four Runner, on her way to take her daughter to the doctor?s office, when she lost control on the wet pavement.

?She said she could feel the back end start to go around so she tried to save it but ended up oversteering,? Cavanaugh said, noting the accident happened as she was navigating a curve during the morning rainstorm. ?The slick road was the main contributor to the accident.?

Sliding sideways, the SUV left the road and went over an embankment which caused the vehicle to overturn and flip into a field, landing on its wheels as it came to rest.

?She said when it stopped rolling she looked over and her baby was in her car seat and then looked back to where her son was sitting but he wasn?t there,? Cavanaugh was told by Lewis. ?Then she looked out the window and her son was there in the field.?

Lawmen believe the boy was ejected through the back, passenger-side window of the SUV as it rolled, even though Lewis said the boy was in a booster seat.

All three victims were treated at River Park Hospital.