Local

1 dead after Rowan Co. crash

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — One person died after a crash in Rowan County Thursday morning.

The accident happened shortly before 8 a.m. on Edmiston Road near Highway 801.

“You were hoping for a happy ending and you didn't get it. And it's really sad," witness Kim Campbell said.

Campbell sat on a stranger’s front porch and watched as firefighters tried desperately to free a woman trapped in her car, which was pinned against a tree.

A medical helicopter was standing by ready to take her to CMC, but they were unable to free her in time. She died at the scene.

"You get a better perspective of how short every day is," Campbell said.

Campbell was on her way to work on Highway 801 when she came upon the accident seconds after it happened.

Troopers said a woman driving a Toyota was heading south when she lost control, crossed the center line and crashed head-on with a woman driving a Chevy. The collision sent the Chevy off the road and into the tree.

Campbell pulled up behind the Toyota, which was stopped in the middle of the road.

“This man jumped out the passenger side, jerked open the back door and pulled his baby out and started screaming, ‘Hold my baby, hold my baby -- she’s unconscious,’" Campbell said.

Campbell said the man then went to the driver's side to check on his wife.

"His baby came to and started screaming in my arms,” she said.

At the same time, Tim Vanstrom heard the crash from inside his house. He rushed to the woman who was still trapped.

"She couldn't move. She wanted out, but there wasn't anything we could do," Vanstrom said.

Vanstrom said he did everything he could to keep her calm until paramedics arrived.

"I would have never thought she'd pass away,” he said. “They did everything they could to get her out but it was just -- she got hit so hard in the front end there."