Norridgewock woman searches for ‘guardian angel’ who pulled her husband from wreckage

Jessy Forney’s 2007 Chevy Tahoe was found totaled Thursday after a crash on U.S. Route 2 in Norridgewock. Forney suffered serious injuries in the crash but is expected to make a full recovery after being pulled from the wreckage by a passing driver. Photo courtesy of Kate Forney

NORRIDGEWOCK — This Halloween, Katie and Jessy Forney’s third wedding anniversary. Katie was cooking early on Thursday evening before taking her son with Jessy.

Jessy Forney, left, and his wife Katie are seen together in this 2024 photo. Photo courtesy of Katie Forney

Jessy was on her way home from work early and called Katie to say how excited he was for that evening. Less than five minutes after they hung up, Katie received a call from a stranger.

“A woman I didn’t know called me and said she was standing on the side of the road with my husband. He had been in an accident,” she remembers. “I dropped my food, put my dogs in the house and ran down the road. He had an accident just up the road from my house.

When she arrived on scene, she found Jessy’s Chevy Tahoe off the shoulder of the road into the woods next to US Route 2, also known as Skowhegan Road. The car was almost unrecognizable.

Lt. Kyle Mullin of the Norridgewock Fire Department described the damage as “quite significant,” saying the vehicle “went off the road, struck a pine tree, and kicked the trunk of the tree out and landed on the SUV” before several of local fires that spread around the crash site.

Jessy was conscious and lucid, but seriously injured. Blood poured from his hand and head and cuts covered most of his body. Doctors would later determine that he had a neck fracture, a broken left rib and several deep stab wounds all over his body.

Several large logs had fallen on top of the vehicle, nearly flattening the passenger side. The engine had just caught fire when she arrived and spread into the brush next to the vehicle.

Large trees that fell on Jessy Forney’s SUV in a single-vehicle crash Thursday can be seen after the vehicle was removed from the scene. Photo courtesy of Katie Forney

“The car caught fire when I ran to him, and then we helped him up and took him to the truck of another man who had stopped to help,” Katie said. “That old man, it turns out, saved his life less than five minutes earlier. He was like a guardian angel.”

Jessy had lost consciousness shortly before the crash, Katie said, and was “cold” when he got off the highway. He might not have regained consciousness if that man hadn’t stopped to help.

“All Jessy remembers is going out cold turkey for about 200 yards before going off the road,” says Katie. “He woke up and heard a man say, ‘Can you get out?’ And he realized he was in the truck, off the road, with blood on the airbag and a huge tree on top of the car next to him.”

The man happened to be driving behind Jessy when he saw the accident occur. He ran to the driver’s side door, quickly untied Jessy, pulled the airbag aside and pulled him out of the car just before it became partially engulfed in flames.

“The entire driver’s side was on fire. “If he hadn’t been taken out, he would have been right in the driver’s seat,” she said. ‘He’s lucky to be alive. The entire passenger side is dented. It’s gone. It’s so lucky that there was no one else with him, I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if I or my son had been with him.

First responders from the Norridgewock Fire Department and the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office remained on scene for several hours to clean up heavy damage and small fires that had spread around the crash site, according to Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Mike Mitchell.

“Vegetation, some wildlife, brush had been burned,” Mitchell said. “The fire brigade was there for a few hours.”

Jessy was taken by ambulance to Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan before being released Friday morning. He is expected to make a full recovery, says Katie, although he will have to wear a neck brace for the next 12 weeks.

His survival is as miraculous as it is symbolic, says Katie.

“We got married on Halloween three years ago in a cemetery in Bangor. It is our favorite holiday,” she said. “The fact that he survived, the fact that he is going to recover – I truly believe that someone from heaven was watching over my husband, even on Halloween.”

Katie only wishes she knew the name of the “guardian angel” who stopped to help Jessy.

Katie didn’t think to ask his name amid the panic at the scene, and was only able to identify him by the white truck he was driving. She posted on the ‘Norridgewock Neighborhood Watch and Information’ Facebook page in an attempt to find him, but so far has been unsuccessful.

“That man, I wish I knew his name. “I just want to thank you,” she said. “He pulled it out. I don’t know if my husband would still be alive if it wasn’t for him.”

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