Sunday, July 6, 2008

Wis. woman, 91, trapped under her car for 2 days

Wis. woman, 91, trapped under her car for 2 days

GREENDALE, Wis. - A 91-year-old woman crawled under her car to look for her keys and ended up wedged beneath an axle for two days, police said.

Betty Borowski, of the Milwaukee suburb of Greendale, was found Tuesday after a mail carrier noticed her mail piling up and called police. She was taken to Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee, where she was recovering in critical intensive care Friday, her niece said.

Borowski, who lives alone, became stuck sometime on June 29 when her head was apparently pinned by the axle, Greendale police Chief Rob Dams said.

"She was pretty well wedged in there," Dams said. "It looks like she crawled under headfirst."

She was looking for her keys, which were in the car's door, Dams said.

On Tuesday, Borowski's mail carrier noticed that the previous day's mail was still in Borowski's mailbox, police said. So he rang the house's doorbell and then asked a neighbor whether he had seen Borowski lately.

The men grew concerned and called police.

An officer responded, peering through windows and calling Borowski's name until he heard faint calls for help, Dams said.

The officer kicked in the door and found her under the car.

Firefighters lifted the car with a jack and removed Borowski, who was dehydrated and confused.

Borowski's niece, Nancy DiMarco, flew from Phoenix to be with her aunt after police called to tell her what happened.

Borowski appears to be recovering, DiMarco said, noting that her aunt on Friday ate her first solid food in the five days since the incident.

But she said Borowski may have suffered a minor heart attack at some point when she was under the vehicle, and went without her medication for two days.

A shift nurse declined to provide an update of Borowski's condition Saturday evening.

Police credited the mail carrier, neighbor and responding officer for their attentiveness. DiMarco too added her gratitude for the good Samaritans.

"If it wasn't for people seeing a situation and following through on ... who knows?" she said. "She wouldn't have made it about one more day."

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