MUDDY CREEK TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Christy Castillo of New Castle was driving home from her daughter’s doctor’s appointment in Wexford on Monday afternoon when winter weather quickly moved into the area.
“Right as we were going to get off our exit, it was getting really bad and snowy,” Castillo told Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek. “As soon as we got off the exit, it was just a sheet of ice.”
She crashed into a ditch along the interchange.
“My car just completely locked up,” Castillo said. “My brakes were locked, my wheels were locked and my front end just started veering to the right. There was no stopping it. It just finally landed in the ditch.”
You can still see the damage from crashing into the ditch on her car, as well as mud on the wheels.
Moments later, a truck crashed into the ditch. The impact was so loud, Castillo thought she had been rear-ended.
“If you look at the back of my car, I’m covered in rocks,” she said.
She called 911. She couldn’t get her van out of the ditch safely, and her kids were in the car. Then, a trooper got on scene.
The trooper got out of her cruiser, which she parked behind Castillo. At the same time, another truck hit the same patch of ice and hit the trooper’s car.
“All I heard was the guy say, ‘Watch out, watch out, watch out,’ and I heard the impact,” Castillo said. “I looked over here and saw him holding her up, and he laid her down on the hill. The truck was completely up on the hill, like straight up.”
State police said the trooper suffered a leg injury and was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital.
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Castillo said that, if the trooper’s car wasn’t there, she and her kids likely would have been badly hurt.
“If it hadn’t been for her vehicle, he would have went into mine. Her vehicle stopped his vehicle from hitting me,” Castillo said. “I’m very sorry she was hurt. As soon as we saw her hurt, we all literally grabbed hands in the car and started asking God to pray for her and us.”
There was no word on the trooper’s condition as of Wednesday afternoon, but she is expected to be OK.
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