A local man and woman were airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville last Friday morning after a horrifying one-car crash on Short Mountain Highway. One person had to be cut away from the wreckage.

According to Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Brent Collier, at around 8:30 am, on Friday, E-911 received a call reporting a car crash with injuries at 9088 Short Mountain Highway. Deputies with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, a unit with DeKalb EMS, THP, and Main Station Engine 59 with the DeKalb Fire Department, responded to the scene. DCFD’s Keltonburg Engine 64 and Short Mountain Engine 62 were also called to the scene to set up a landing zone for an incoming Lifeflight air ambulance.

Authorities say that 33-year-old Bobby O’Conner Jr. of Smithville was traveling south on Short Mountain Highway in a 2014 Hyundai Elantra when it ran off the right side of the roadway. The vehicle then traveled a short distance south and turned onto its side before colliding with a tree, where it came to final rest in the yard of a home.

DeKalb Fire Department’s Extrication Unit was dispatched to the scene in order to cut O’Conner from the crash. For an hour rescuers worked to remove the roof of the car, then push away the dash to free O’Conner’s trapped legs.

Both O’Conner and a passenger, 39-year-old Latonia Anderson of Smithville, were then transported to a landing zone where they were flown to Nashville with serious injuries.