On Nov. 25, Live Oak resident Robbie Carpenter, 75, was involved in a rollover crash into an irrigation canal on Larkin Road north of Paseo Road.
After dropping her husband off at a dialysis clinic, Carpenter said she was headed home when the accident occurred. According to Carpenter, she fell asleep at the wheel.
“I just didn’t get enough sleep that night,” Carpenter said. “Hearing the gravel – that’s the last thing I remember.”
There was approximately two feet of water in the canal. Her vehicle landed upside down with her head submerged in the water, according to the Yuba-Sutter area California Highway Patrol (CHP).
Meanwhile, Cyle Johnson, 28, and his wife, Ashley Martin, 27, of Marysville, and their 6-year-old daughter were visiting a residence on Larkin Road. The young girl was playing in the front and saw the crash. She then ran into the house to tell her parents. Her father ran out, jumped the front fence, and jumped into the canal.
“If he hadn’t come out there, I would have been gone,” Carpenter believes.
Ashley also ran outside to assist, according to the CHP.
They located Carpenter, whose head was underwater and unresponsive in the driver seat. Johnson reached into the vehicle, unlocked the door and forced the door open. An unknown passerby stopped to assist and provided a knife to cut the seat belt. They were able to pull Carpenter to safety and stayed with her until emergency medical responders arrived, according to the CHP.
Carpenter, who was transported to a local hospital, escaped the incident with only minor injuries.
“I had my seat belt and the brace on, so that’s probably what saved me,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter was wearing a back brace due to a back surgery that she had before the incident.
Carpenter said she feels more cautious now because of the accident. Carpenter’s family was also scared by this situation.
Carpenter has a sweet demeanor. Although she is now retired, she said she had a career caring for the elderly.
“I’d cleaned their house, and I’d cook them some meals and sit down. And then, I’d be in the kitchen washing the juices or something, and they’d call my name, and I’d go in there and see what they wanted,” Carpenter said. “They’d be patting the couch, ‘Sit down, sit down.’ They wanted me to visit with them.”
Besides having worked in a helping profession, Carpenter also seems to have an eye for the beautiful. She collects miniature carousel horse figurines and bells.
“They’re just so pretty,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter wants to do something to thank the family that aided her in her time of need. She is grateful for their help.
“I appreciate it so much,” Carpenter said.
Her family appreciates the family’s actions as well.
“She’s a very, very special person. Very gentle, very caring. She’s a hugger. She doesn’t have to know you,” sister-in-law Karen Carpenter said. “Anybody who needs a hug – she’s the gal who can do it.”
The CHP applauds the life-saving actions demonstrated by the heroic Marysville family.
According to the CHP, a rather odd fact is that Johnson was the first on the scene at a fatal wrong-way crash on SR-99 near Howsley Road in October. He assisted Ian Essary, who was gravely injured.