Driver Cut Out Of Car Wreck Had To Be Removed From Guardrail First

Fri., Nov. 10, 1995

By Brian Coddington brianc@spokesman.com

Rescue workers spent more than an hour cutting a man out of his car after a head-on crash Thursday on Bigelow Gulch Road.

After being freed from his badly damaged car, Ivan I. Anufryev of Spokane was airlifted to Deaconess Medical Center, where he underwent surgery. He was listed in serious condition with injuries to his left arm and leg.

Washington State Patrol troopers said Anufryev was traveling east along Bigelow Gulch about 2:20 p.m. when he lost control of his blue Dodge Colt. The car crossed the center line and hit a tanker truck driven by 36-year-old Kelly L. Sego of Spokane, said WSP Sgt. Chris Powell. The impact spun Anufryev’s car around before it slammed into the guardrail just west of Orchard Prairie Road. Sego, who was not injured, managed to avoid other traffic and guide the Kenworth truck safely into a ditch about 30 feet from the collision.

Spokane County road crews had sprayed a de-icing chemical onto the roadway just prior to the accident. Powell said troopers are investigating whether the chemical played a part in the accident. He also said speed likely contributed to the accident.

“For some reason (Anufryev) was was out of control,” Powell said. “We don’t know yet.”

Rescue workers using extraction equipment first had to cut the car from the guardrail, then needed more than an hour to free Anufryev from the car. They talked to Anufryev, who spoke little English, through a Red Cross interpreter while they cut the steering wheel from his lap.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

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