(Cushing, Okla.) — Bank of Cushing Vice-President and Branch Manager Debbie Burns McNickle survived a head-on collision on Highway 33 Monday afternoon on her way home from Cushing to Perkins.
“I’m real lucky to be alive,” the 61-year-old former Cushing resident told KUSH today by phone from her house in Perkins where she is recuperating.
When her husband, Stillwater Public Safety Director Norman McNickle, saw her demolished 2010 Infiniti, “He could not believe it — that I survived,” she said.
The collision, which involved three vehicles according to an Oklahoma Highway Patrol report, occurred at 4:18 p.m. Monday on Highway 33 and Battleridge Road, one mile west of Cushing in Payne County.
“I was going westbound home to Perkins. A Mustang was going east. She slowed to turn. A pickup behind her did not slow. It threw the Mustang into me,” she recalled
“Norman (who was Stillwater police chief prior to his promotion to Stillwater public safety director) has been so good about teaching me to be cautious in driving, how to react in an emergency.
“I tried to veer to the right,” but she collided with the Mustang, she said. “I was going 62 or 63 miles per hour,” she estimated.
“It spun my car around. I ended up on the south side of the road,” she said.
Even though her vehicle was demolished, “I crawled out the passenger side,” she remembers.
“It’s so vivid. Every time I shut my eyes, it comes back.
“The seat belt and airbag saved my life.
“I know I have a hairline fracture in my left shoulder,” taken on x-rays at the Cushing Regional Hospital emergency room where she was treated Monday, she said.
According to an OHP report Tuesday, the driver of a 2002 Ford Mustang, Sheila Moore, 49, of Shamrock, was transported by private vehicle to Drumright Regional Hospital where she was admitted in stable condition with head injuries.
The driver of a 2001 Chevrolet pickup, Winston Pruitt, 19, of Cushing, was not injured, the OHP report said.
Burns McNickle was transported by the Cushing Fire Department to Cushing Regional Hospital where she was treated and released with leg and trunk internal injuries, the OHP report said.
She told KUSH today, “Thank God, the angels were with me.”
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