Woman trapped after storm-ravaged home collapsed around her ‘just prayed’ as officers rescued her
Nich #Nich
For the first time, we are hearing from a woman who was pulled from a home where she was trapped under debris following a tornado strike.
She is now thanking the two brave officers who put their own lives at risk while rescuing her from the crushed home.
The home had to be demolished following the storm.
Darlene Murphy described to Channel 2′s Tom Regan how she took cover when a massive tree fell onto her leased home during the tornado outbreak that hit Griffin in January.
“I went for the sofa, heard the cracking that was the tree, and it came crashing down,” Murphy said.
For more than an hour, the mother and grandmother was buried under roof beams. Fortunately, the high back sofa stopped the beams from hitting her directly.
“I was just cradled in the sofa, just prayed,” Murphy said.
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Two Griffin police officers, Adam Trammel and Nich Hoard dug through the debris to get to Darlene.
“Hey ma’am can you hear me? Keep talking to me. I’m going to find a way to get you out,” Hoard can be heard saying on body cam video obtained by Regan.
“One of the officers said to me, ‘We are not going to leave you. I will not leave you, just hold on,’” Murphy said.
“I was trying to keep her calm, don’t freak out. But it was a tight squeeze,” Hoard said.
“She was pinned down, so we wanted to get her out before the roof collapsed more on top of her,” Trammell said.
Using a pocket knife, the officers cut a hole in the couch cushions, opening a space for Darlene to crawl out. They carried out to safety.
“What did it feel like finally getting out?” Regan asked Murphy.
“Oh, you know that was a blessing before God. I was real happy,” Murphy said.
She thanks the brave officers to came to her rescue.
“I truly appreciate what they did for me. I am so grateful for what they did,” Murphy said.
Amazingly, Murphy was not injured, but she told Regan that she still wakes up a night with flashbacks of her traumatic ordeal.
She said she also tries to avoid being around large trees.
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