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West Frankfort woman pulled from rising waters

By Tara Fasol, the southern

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:45 PM CDT

WEST FRANKFORT - A woman trapped in a submerged vehicle was pulled to safety around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and has a father and son to thank for her rescue.

Tracy Barnes, 29, of West Frankfort lost control of her vehicle when it hydroplaned on Illinois 37, one-half mile south of Cleveland Street in West Frankfort.

"Her vehicle was in the water and (partially) submerged," Chief of Police Jeff Tharp said. "It was raining extremely heavily at that time."

Barnes called 911 and was connected with dispatcher Ryan Buckingham at the Franklin County Central Dispatch in Christopher.

Buckingham stayed on the line with the woman, telling her to roll down her window and attempt to escape the vehicle before the car sank any further into the water.

"I was having her get out the window," Buckingham explained. "I was thinking 'who is that guy she is talking to?'"

The man in the background was a passerby who spotted Barnes' taillights and was attempting to pull the woman from the water. What Buckingham didn't know is that the man was his father.

"I was talking with her on the phone and I was trying to assess the situation," Buckingham said. "I was trying to keep her calm. That's when I could hear my dad in the background but I didn't know it was him. It was pretty wild."

His father, Robin Buckingham, said he used a ladder to extend to the vehicle so he could reach the woman. He was then able to make his way to her car and pull her to safety.

"She had just dropped her daughter off at the day care," Robin said. "I was out there at the day care doing some things for them. All I saw was the taillights there in the water. I helped her crawl out and she was on the phone with 911 and she didn't want to put the phone down. It (car) was filling with water. I got on the phone and I gave him my name. He goes 'Dad?' and I go 'Ryan?'"

Robin said he didn't recognize Ryan's voice at first and just stated his name to the dispatcher. He said that wasn't the first time his son had been the anonymous voice on the other end of the line.

"When my grandpa had a seizure and went into a diabetic coma they had called," Robin explained. "She (grandmother) goes 'Ryan is that you?' and he said 'Nanny?' We're just used to it with Ryan because he pops up in the strangest places."

Barnes was not injured in the accident and did not receive any citations.

tara.fasol@thesouthern.com / 351-5824@thesouthern.com / 351-5824