Lone Survivor Still Feels Guilt In Medevac Helicopter Crash
DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) -- Maryland will unveil a monument Friday for the four people killed in the 2008 crash of a State Police helicopter.
Seven years after they died, the lone survivor says she still feels tremendous guilt. And now she says she's finally free to talk about it.
It's a miracle anyone survived the crash on a miserable September night. Jordan Wells spent 2 1/2 hours pinned under the wreckage in the woods with her best friend and three other people dead next to her.
Though she still wishes she had died and someone else had survived.
"When you survive something and everyone else dies, it's kind of hard not to feel guilty," said Wells, in an interview at her home in Charles County.
Trooper Two had taken off on a rainy, foggy night to rescue Jordan Wells, who had crashed her car on a flooded road, with her best friend Ashley Younger. Pilot Stephen Bunker, Paramedic Mickey Lippy and volunteer Tanya Mallard all risked their lives to save the young women.
"Why me?" said Wells. "What's so special about me? How come their father couldn't live? How come her husband couldn't live? How come her son couldn't live?"
Wells broke her back, fractured her skull and lost her left leg in the crash.
The pilot had flown into a cloud so thick, he descended desperately in an effort to get below it unaware that he was about to crash into a tree. Wells said the first time she realized they were in trouble was when she saw panic in her medic's eyes.
"I was watching Lippy's face, and that's how I knew we were crashing," Wells said. "So I don't really like to talk about that part."
RELATED: Mom Blames Air Traffic Controllers For Deadly Helicopter Crash
Wells remembers coming to in the woods and waiting hours for someone to find them.
"I was shivering and I was so cold, and my bones were sticking out," Wells said. "And I remember praying to God, like God, if you send someone to find me, I promise I will change. And I cried out for help. And as soon as I cried out for help, someone yelled back."
During years of lawsuits, Wells says her lawyers insisted she never express her sorrow. But the lawsuits are settled now. And she draws strength from her faith and her two children.
And she wants the other families to know how she feels.
"Tell me something I could do to make it better. I'd do anything to take the pain out of their heart."
The Maryland State Police have changed procedures and purchased new choppers with advanced safety features -- but Wells says this crash was a perfect storm.
And she fears if there's another perfect storm, it could happen again.
(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
