Kcmo Accident / Wow!!!

[Kevin Taylor]

Kansas City Star > Wednesday, Jan 29, 2003


Metropolitan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted on Wed, Jan. 29, 2003

Teen propelled to overhead wires in auto crash thanks God
By MARA ROSE WILLIAMS and LINDA MAN
The Kansas City Star

From CNN to "Good Morning, America," many people wanted to talk to Joe Ray Thompson III on Tuesday.

He just wanted to talk about God.

And about his brief, extraordinary flight through the roof of his crashing Jeep that hurled him 25 feet into the air and dangled him from utility lines for 20 minutes.

He and his family think Thompson's survival Monday night is nothing less than a miracle.

"Look at me. I'm walking around," Thompson said Tuesday. "I have a few scrapes and a bump on my head. No way that is a coincidence. This is all about God. The only thing that got me through this was my faith in God."

Three cellular phones and the house phone in Thompson's Lake Tapawingo home were ringing seemingly nonstop since 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Thompson, 18, a youth leader at First Baptist Church of Blue Springs, stayed home Tuesday from Blue Springs High School, where he is a senior, and told callers how it happened.

He said he left home Monday evening to run an errand for his father. He was about a mile from home on U.S. 40 at Woods Chapel Road when, according to police, another vehicle trying to pass on his right clipped his Jeep Wrangler.

The Jeep spun into a ditch and flipped several times. As it rolled, the fiberglass top popped off. The driver's side slammed into a utility pole.

Thompson, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, flew up more than 30 feet.

"When I came down on the power lines, I woke up," Thompson said. "I remember spinning, and the next thing I knew, I was just hanging there by my hands and feet. Upside down."

Below him was his crumpled Jeep and the Bible he carries with him everywhere.

Gene Gould, assistant fire chief of the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District, said Thompson landed in telephone cable and neutral ground wire.

"A few feet more, he would have been thrown into more powerful lines of 30,000 to 70,000 voltage," Gould said.

Justin Elam of Olathe was driving the other vehicle. After the wreck, he rushed to check on Thompson.

"He said, `Help me,' " Elam said. "It didn't sound like it came from the Jeep. I said, `Where are you?' And he said, `Look up.' "

Elam saw Thompson with his legs wrapped around the telephone cable and a ground wire.

Elam said he felt helpless, wondering whether Thompson could hold on long enough for help to arrive.

"In this situation, you can't help but smile and be thankful," Elam said. "He shouldn't be here right now, and the fact that he's injury-free is unbelievable."

Thompson's father, stepmother, two brothers and three stepsisters are sure it was a miracle.

"My brother called and said, `Your son's been in a terrible accident, the Jeep is totaled, and he is hanging on for dear life,' " Thompson's father recalled.

On his way to the scene, the elder Thompson prayed, "God, please take care of him."

At home, the rest of the family prayed on their hands and knees.

"When I saw him hanging there, I didn't know if he was dead or alive," Thompson's father said. "I was bawling. He's my oldest son. I have seen a lot of accidents. I have never seen anything like this one."

Thompson said his legs and arms went numb and turned blue from holding the wires so tight.

By helicopter, Thompson was taken to Research Medical Center, where his scrapes were treated. He soon was released.

Sitting at his kitchen table smiling Tuesday afternoon, Thompson said he couldn't wait to talk to his friends at his church group, called Reborn and Dynamically Different.

"I have definitely got a testimony," he said. "God took the worst of situations and made it good. He reminded me he's in control. Look at all the chances I have now to witness to people. I'm glad this happened."























Stocks


Enter symbol/company name










News | Business | Sports | Entertainment | Living | Classifieds

Help | Contact Us | Site Index | Archives | Place an Ad | Newspaper Subscriptions
About KansasCity.com | About Realcities Network | Terms of Use | Press Center | Copyright

Breaking News

Columnists

Local/Region

Nation

Obituaries

Photos

Politics

Weather

Weird News

World


Columnists

Companies

Financial Markets

Industries

People & Events

Personal Finance

Regional Indicators

Technology


Baseball

Basketball

Colleges

Columnists

Football

Golf

Hockey

Motorsports

Other Sports

Soccer

Women


Celebrities

Columnists

Comics & Games

Dining

Events

Horoscopes

Movies

Music

Performing Arts


Columnists

Education

Food

Health

Home

Occasions

Travel


Automotive

Employment

Personals

Real Estate

[Neilk]

As Bill Maher used to say on his show, if God really cared about him, he wouldn't have let him get there in the first place. The kid got LUCKY.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Hey, everybody know Jesus wanted Tampa Bay to beat Oakland.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

All I can say is: If he was wearing his seat belt he most likely would not have come so close to his maker. Keep belted, stay in the vehicle, stay alive!

[Kurt B]

What a freakin' moron. "Look at me. I'm walking around," Thompson said Tuesday. "I have a few scrapes and a bump on my head. No way that is a coincidence. This is all about God. The only thing that got me through this was my faith in God."

You a statistician or something? No way it's a coincidence eh? In your professional opinion, this just can't be coincidence eh buddy?

Everytime something 3 standard deviations from the mean happens, it's God, unless it's horrible, then it's bad luck. I won the lotto, thank God!
Wow, my car barely made it home, thank God!
Ouch, I bent a valve, bad luck.
Too bad, I died, musta been bad luck.

The morons who make these shows, the press, the media who covers the "thank god I was the only one to walk away...musta been a miracle...of course, for the 400 sorry @sses who did die, I guess you better tithe more! Freakers! MUhahahahah" stories, I can't but wonder if humans are so freaking innately stupid, no amount of science, progress, and knowledge advancement can take the superstition away from the masses.
Musta been God!

** Edited for language ** -Z-man

[stray15]

People gotta believe in something Kurt.

[Z-man]

Hmm, interesting. While I am a believer in Jesus Christ, I have a difficult time with people who "thank God" for all things. I think the "thank God for everything mentality" it has to do with what I call a "stupid faith." NOT a blind faith, but a faith without understanding.
Example: I just HATE it when Christians try to encourage those who have lost a loved one by saying, "You should be happy: your loved one is now in heaven!" While that may be true, it doesn't change the fact that I've lost someone and that I need to go through some mourning.

A Christians' faith requires one to think deeply of their relationship with God, not just to aimlessly do what he's been told. Like any relationship, there's thankfullness, sorry, doubt, feelings of abandonment..etc. I wonder if "Mr. Thrown out of the Jeep" considers why God allowed him to total his car? That's something I'd have a hard time thanking God for, especially if my Porsche were totalled!

IMHO, if God is in control of this universe, then I must conclude that there is no such thing as conicidence. However, my human side struggles with accepting this.

Stats work great with emperical evidence, but when you throw in factors like human emotion, and all things unexplained to the equation, it becomes a little messy. Example: how can you statistically explain the butterflies I had in my stomach when I asked my wife to marry me? Or, what about the pleasure of watching a beautiful sunset? Or, how can you explain the joy I experience everytime I drive my Porsche on the track? Statistics on these subjects offer very little to explain the situation. IMHO, the same applies to the mysterious works of God.

Sorry for my rambling, it's late, and I gotta go to sleep.

I enjoy discussing religion and how my faith effects my life: my post is not meant to offend anyone.

Regards,
-Zoltan.