Scouters in Action: They helped the victims of a horrific multicar accident

Tim and Crystal Mueller, adult volunteers from Troop 2119 in Sharpsburg, Maryland, were on their way to the Shenandoah Area Council’s popcorn sales kickoff event when they witnessed a terrifying multicar accident unfold on the road in front of them.

They watched in horror as a car heading the opposite direction at an estimated 90 to 100 miles per hour jumped the median, plowing into several cars in front of the Muellers. One driver was ejected from their vehicle, and it was apparent that there would be other serious injuries as well.

Tim, Troop 2119’s Scoutmaster, and Crystal, a member of the troop’s committee, likely missed being involved in the accident themselves by a matter of seconds. But in the moment, they had no time to ponder such things.

They had to attend to the victims, manage traffic around the scene and Be Prepared to pass on all pertinent information to the emergency medical responders that would soon be arriving.

Here is their story in their own words.

Tim: My immediate reaction was to slow my vehicle to a stop and put my hazard lights on. My wife’s immediate response was, “We have to help them.”

Crystal: Tim told me to call 911; then we exited our vehicle and approached the scene of the accident.

Tim: We discovered that the occupant of one of the vehicles was on the pavement with a laceration 2 inches down to her skull, and she had a severely dislocated right knee. There were 2-3 bystanders trying to assess her, so we went to the next vehicle.

Crystal: We found an elderly man partially pinned inside his car with seemingly superficial wounds on his arms and upper body. His vehicle was on fire, and it was quickly growing. There were already two or three people trying to remove him from his vehicle, so we went to the third vehicle.

Tim: We found an older lady who had succumbed to her injuries. After we determined that she was deceased, my wife went back to the driver of the first vehicle, and I went to help the driver of the second vehicle, where I helped the other bystanders move the man away from the truck. I assessed his condition and helped to stabilize him. I then left him with another bystander and went to the driver of the first vehicle.

Crystal: The second vehicle at this point was engulfed in flames. Tim moved the man farther away and also recommended that we move the first victim farther away due to the risk of that vehicle exploding too.

At this point, the victim from the first vehicle was asking, “Where is my friend?” That alerted us that there may be a fourth victim somewhere. My husband and I began sweeping the vehicles and the surrounding area looking for any other victims.

We could hear EMS from a distance; however, there was a wall of vehicles blocking their path. Tim moved our vehicle out of the roadway and directed other bystanders to move their vehicles to create a path for EMS to get through.

Tim: Crystal was trying to keep one of the victims calm by talking to her and holding her hand. The victim was in severe pain. She advised other bystanders not to move her due to her badly dislocated knee.

Around this time, an off-duty doctor began to check on the woman. The victim was trying to roll over, and my wife was able to explain to her what was going on and why she shouldn’t roll over.

One bystander had a fire extinguisher; however, they did not know how to use it. Crystal advised them to use the PASS method: pull, aim, squeeze, sweep. They weren’t able to completely put the fire out, but they did buy a few more seconds so the firefighters could put it out.

Crystal: As EMS arrived, my husband told them the status of the victims and which to triage first. Tim helped stabilize one victim’s body and put her on a backboard. We let EMS know that the victim was asking where her friend was to alert them that there may be another victim. EMS performed a thorough search of the area, but no additional victims were found.

Timothy and Crystal Mueller each received a Heroism Award for their actions.