Passing drivers on US 101 near Laytonville save life of 4-year-old

MENDOCINO CO., 12/16/24 — On Dec. 13, at 4:37 pm, California Highway Patrol (CHP) received 9-1-1 calls for a multi-vehicle crash, with both vehicles upside-down in Rattlesnake Creek. The creek runs for about six miles along US Route 101 between Laytonville and Leggett.

How it happened

According to a press release issued by the CHP, Todd McKay, 47 years old of Garberville, was driving his Toyota 4-Runner northbound on US 101, at Spy Rock Road, during the heavy rainstorm. McKay’s 4-Runner began to hydroplane and ran off the highway. The 4-Runner drove up the embankment and overturned, landing on its roof. The 4-Runner then slid into the southbound lane, directly in front of a Toyota Rav 4, driven by Anthony Fair, 56 years old, of Philo. The two vehicles collided, with both tumbling down the embankment into Rattlesnake Creek. Both vehicles landed in the creek upside down and were nearly submerged as the creek continued to rise due to the heavy rainfall.

Saving a child’s life

Good Samaritans Barrett Thomas and Abram Hill (an off-duty volunteer firefighter with Leggett Valley Fire and Rescue and Piercy Volunteer Fire Department) were driving through the area when each noticed vehicle debris in the roadway. Both men pulled over and checked down the embankment. Thomas pulled Fair and his son to safety out of the creek and spotted McKay’s vehicle downstream. Hill jumped from the creek bank onto the upside-down vehicle, just as two of McKay’s children emerged from the car. Hill helped the children to the creekbank as McKay emerged from the vehicle carrying his four-year-old child. Hill helped McKay and his child up to the side of US 101. Hill realized the child was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Hill and Thomas began CPR. Not long after starting CPR, the four-year-old’s pulse returned and shortly after, the child was breathing without assistance. The child was transported to Howard Memorial Medical Center and then to UC Davis Medical Center and is expected to make a full recovery. All occupants of both vehicles received minor injuries from the crash.

The CHP Garberville Office is extremely grateful for Abram Hill and Barrett Thomas for their quick actions in performing CPR in the pouring rain, saving the life of McKay’s four-year-old child.