A 17-year-old girl was hoisted to safety up a steep, brush-covered and muddy hill from the banks of Deckers Creek on Monday morning.
Morgantown Police Department Sgt. Bryon Hennessey said the girl was truant from Morgantown High School and was spotted by MHS school resource officer Troy Ball, who told her he needed to take her back to school. The girl took off running and then Ball saw her go into a brushy area under the South High Street Bridge, leading to Deckers Creek, Hennessey said.
The girl said she fell down the hill and into the creek, Hennessey said. She began to swim and was in the water for about four or five minutes until emergency responders arrived and found her sitting on a rock, out of the creek. She was then at a part of the creek which is only accessible by a steep hill.
Hennessey said the girl complained of an ankle injury so she was placed on a backboard and carried to the top of the hill by Morgantown police and firefighters and Mon EMS employees, who sometimes struggled to keep solid footing on the muddy trek in a light rain. Firefighters had to clear a path with a chainsaw.
The girl was cold and tired, but Hennessey said she was alert and talking.
She was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital.
The water temperature of Deckers Creek was about 44 degrees Monday afternoon, according to Friends of Deckers Creek.
Copyright 2012 - The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
