With Seconds to React, Montgomery Officer Leaps And Lives

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Officer Recounts Escape From Runaway Tractor-Trailer

Montgomery County Police Officer Sarah White talks about her escape from a runaway tractor-trailer by jumping 24 feet off a bridge on the inner loop of the beltway in the middle of the night.

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"I didn't want to be stuck behind a desk," said the former high school cheerleader.

On the bridge, White said, the wall to her right looked like one of the Jersey barriers that line long stretches of the Beltway. She remembers putting her right hand atop the wall and jumping over it with her back to the truck. Her next clear memory is landing in the grass, her lighted flashlight several feet away.

Above she heard the truck crash into her car.

"Officer down!" White called into her radio.

Minutes later, officers were shining flashlights down at her from the bridge. "She's down here! She's on her knees!" she could hear them yelling.

Less than a quarter-mile away, paramedic Bill Porter was finishing up paperwork from a previous call at Holy Cross Hospital when he got a call. Minutes later, he was running down the bike path.

A few things were apparent: White was talking, knew where she was and was lucky she hadn't hit the asphalt or fallen on her head. She also had missed a 4-foot long, 18-inch wide log.

"She could have very well died, falling from that height," Porter said.

On the way to the hospital, White told Porter she couldn't believe she had jumped off the side of a bridge.

"She had a second to make a decision about her life, or her death, and I think she made the right decision," Porter said.

Montgomery police said Tuesday that they had charged the truck driver with four offenses, including failure to reduce speed during a dangerous highway condition.

Since the fall, White's X-rays and a CAT scan have been negative. Her back is very sore, she said, and she is scheduled for an MRI and other tests.

She returned to the crash scene this week in part to figure out what had happened. Driving by on the Beltway, White said, she could see how quickly the bridge appeared. Looking up from where she landed, it was clear she'd jumped just after running onto the bridge.

"I do feel a little less silly," she said, as she put her hands in her coat pockets and began walking back to her car.