WATERLOO, Ill. – Emergency responders managed to pull two adults and a toddler from the wreckage of a small plane that crashed in Illinois Tuesday afternoon.
The crash occurred in the area of Gilmore Lake Road in Waterloo.
Waterloo police Sgt. Trin Daws broke open the window of the plane and pulled a toddler out of the child’s seat.
“There was fuel leaking in front of us, that’s when we heard a child crying in the back, so myself and another gentleman who stopped by found a fire extinguisher and used that to break two windows out and then he cut the seat belt," Daws said. "(The child) was still in the car seat and we got him removed right away."
A woman and man were also cut from the wreckage. They were speaking with emergency workers when they were taken to the hospital. Their conditions were not immediately known.
The aircraft was heading west when it clipped a tree. The crash happened near Sgt. Daws' home. His wife was doing yard work and witnessed the plane crash.
The officer handed the child to his wife, Cathy, who then ran home to keep the toddler warm until EMS arrived at the scene.
“Trin brought me the little baby and he was shaking and crying and so I asked him if we wanted to go inside and I brought him in and comforted him,” she said.
Cathy Daws said the child told her they were traveling to St. Louis to see his mother.
