KITTERY, Maine — 1 second, Nikki Mediouni and her youthful relatives had been traveling on the freeway en route to a vacation at Disney World. The up coming, she was sobbing on the facet of Interstate 95 subsequent a jarring close to-demise encounter.
On Wednesday morning, March 16, the Mediouni loved ones of Cumberland, Maine, was involved in a crash involving a tractor-trailer and a Maine Condition Law enforcement cruiser in Kittery.
Mediouni and her partner, Malek Mediouni, ended up driving their two younger sons, ages 3 and 6, to Logan Airport in Boston to catch a flight to Florida for the Disney excursion.
It was a vacation Mediouni, a 35-12 months-previous pharmacist, booked previous October. When their car or truck was pinned by a freight truck that experienced just struck a condition police trooper’s cruiser, having said that, the loved ones had to escape their smoking cigarettes motor vehicle on the highway and issue whether or not their trip would be canceled.
But since of the swift imagining of responding members of the Kittery Law enforcement Section and a memorable escort, the Mediounis even now built it to Disney.
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The Mediouni household ended up driven to Boston by Kittery Law enforcement Division detective Brian Cummer in time for their flight. Mediouni stated officers on scene overheard one particular of her “distraught” sons inquiring regardless of whether they’d even now be ready to go to Disney and jumped in to help you save the day.
“It was astounding,” she mentioned. “We’ve by no means experienced a lot of interactions with police, and I’m so thankful we were in a position to clearly show my kids how excellent they can be and what they can do for the group. It delivers me to tears.”
Cummer mentioned he and the overall office have been keen to assist the Mediounis right after the crash.
“They arrived really near to death, really,” he stated. “They have been extremely lucky. The full factor is, it did not wreck all the things for them.”
Even with the severity of the crash, no a person involved was critically injured.
How did the crash come about?
Cummer was in his office early March 16 when fellow Kittery law enforcement detective Ryan Sanford appeared in his doorway to inform him a point out police cruiser had been struck.
“We all went to the scene,” he mentioned. “It was this sort of a massive deal.”
Maine Point out Police Trooper Robert Flynn had stopped his cruiser in close proximity to the mile a single marker on Interstate-95. Parked in the southbound breakdown, Flynn’s cruiser, which experienced its blue crisis lights activated, was at the rear of a flatbed truck that was staying towed due to a mechanical difficulty.
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As he was parked, Flynn’s auto was struck by a tractor-trailer that experienced drifted into the breakdown lane, triggering intensive harm to the driver’s aspect of the cruiser, according to police. A driver from Nationwide Towing was beneath the flatbed truck trying to resolve the mechanical difficulty at the time of the crash, and he someway was unscathed.
The tractor-trailer, a BBX car or truck, which is a dry and refrigerated freight transportation corporation, then moved back into the vacation lanes, in accordance to a law enforcement account of the incident. Veering into the much remaining lane, the tractor-trailer crashed into the Mediouni’s Jeep Cherokee, pinning the car or truck towards the roadway’s middle concrete barrier.
“My very first considered was that persons powering us could hit us,” Mediouni said. “Our 1st imagined was, ‘Don’t transfer, just hold out,’ simply because there is going to be some aftershock of anyone hitting us.”
Kittery law enforcement Lt. John Desjardins reported before officers arrived, a passerby served the family out of their car or truck by lifting the hatchback so they could escape.
“They ended up kind of stranded on the side of the street, and 1 of the detectives noticed they had luggage and a little one stroller,” Desjardins said.
Mediouni recalled the Great Samaritan who helped her relatives out of the car. The not known man had driven up to the scene, parked his motor vehicle along the facet of the highway and stopped traffic prior to working up to the Mediounis, yelling earlier mentioned the noise to ask how he could enable.
Her spouse escaped the car or truck from his window. Mediouni said the passerby lifted the vehicle’s hatchback and taken off all the family’s baggage. She handed both her youngsters out of the motor vehicle to them prior to finding out herself.
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“We are really lucky,” she reported.
No 1 involved in the crash was significantly wounded, though some were evaluated at Portsmouth Regional Medical center for minor injuries. Website traffic was closely backed up throughout many lanes as motor vehicles had been eliminated from the road.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was afterwards billed with failure to move in excess of for an emergency auto and distracted driving.
‘I just broke down in tears. It was these a uncomplicated gesture’
Heading to the scene, Cummer was not conscious who was involved in the crash in addition to the state trooper, who was trapped in his harmed cruiser when Cummer arrived.
Immediately after very first seeing what was essential for these involved in the crash, Cummer’s consideration shifted to targeted visitors, which was delayed but managed by responding get-togethers. Cummer reported he was there about 10 minutes ahead of heading again to the station in scenario other calls came in.
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Cummer afterwards received a contact asking if he was fast paced.
Detective Sanford approached Lt. Desjardins to see if there was any way the office could enable the Mediounis make their flight. The two brainstormed and provided up Desjardins’ car, contacting Cummer to see if he was absolutely free to drive them to Logan Airport.
“They were being shaken up by the incident understandably, but I believe they were being a lot more than content to get people boys to Disney as prepared,” Desjardins explained of the Mediounis. “It genuinely was a miracle that no one was damage through the incident.”
Although the household was pondering a search for a bus or educate to get them to Boston, it turned out Cummer was out there.
The Mediouni spouse and children have been brought to the Kittery Law enforcement Division, where by administrative assistant and motor vehicle seat technician Dani Lindman mounted two car or truck seats in Desjardins’ auto.
When Mediouni seemed into the car, she saw two new teddy bears sitting on the seats for her youthful sons.
“I just broke down in tears. It was this kind of a uncomplicated gesture that went these types of a long way for me,” she explained.
Cummer was ‘really superior at earning us really feel so comfortable’
Cummer tried to continue to keep the family’s interest off the incident and stated the youngest boy fell soundly asleep as shortly as the team started driving. The 20-12 months law enforcement veteran reported police officers throughout the nation execute identical gestures each individual working day, but the majority really do not get publicized.
“Obviously for all of us, the complete police office felt very good about undertaking it. Then all over again, it is type of lifetime. We did it and then right after we had been like, ‘Ok interesting, we did it. What’s following?’” he claimed.
Prior to arriving at Logan, a person of Mediouni’s sons experienced a ask for for Cummer: Would he turn on the law enforcement car’s siren? The detective obliged, sending equally boys into a delighted delirium when he sounded the sirens.
“He was just seriously great at creating us truly feel so relaxed,” she explained of Cummer.
Cummer acquired them to Logan Airport with plenty of time to spare, making certain the Disney excursion would go on as planned.
“Police are telling us, ‘You could’ve died,’” Mediouni explained. “So they turned a situation that was very frantic and life-altering and could have been these kinds of a tragic scenario, they flipped it to this sort of a beneficial from when I was sitting on the interstate crying and could not breathe.”
Cummer famous the timing of the accident: If it transpired 10 minutes before, the Mediounis would have skipped it fully and been on their way to Boston. If they had been 10 minutes at the rear of the accident, they would have been caught in visitors and may perhaps have missed their flight.
“It was the right detail to do,” he reported. “They have been a pretty great family members.”