Nurse plunges into river, didn't realize she was on bridge

FREDERICK, Md. — Three people were injured Wednesday after a pre-dawn crash on Interstate 70, including a nurse who tried to help but accidentally plunged over a concrete barrier into the Monocacy River, authorities said.

Nurse Angela Weir, 47, stopped to help after the wreck, which involved a tractor-trailer hauling asphalt and a dump truck about 4:50 a.m. ET, said Lt. Wayne Wachsmuth of Maryland State Police. To get to the scene, she jumped over what she thought was a wall in the median and instead fell more than 75 feet into the river, police said.

“My feet didn’t hit anything, and I knew that I was falling,” Weir said.

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She doesn’t remember landing, but she said she knew she was in the water and began swimming. She had trouble calling out at first.

“A lady heard me calling and said, ‘I think there’s a woman down there,’” she said. “And they couldn’t find me at first because I was under some brush.”

Above, first responders rushed to the vehicle fire and spill. State Police said they received a 911 call of a commercial truck driving westbound on I-70 without its lights on.

Minutes later, the tractor-trailer struck the dump truck from behind, jackknifed and caught fire.

The driver of the dump truck, Charles Williams, 53, of Baltimore, was in serious condition, according to spokeswoman Karen Lancaster of the University of Maryland Medical System.

The tractor-trailer driver was taken to another hospital with injuries that were not life threatening, Wachsmuth said. The interstate was closed in both directions during morning rush hour, and the westbound lanes were closed for more than six hours because of debris from the crash.

Charges are pending, police said.

Weir and her husband were on their way to the gym. Whether or not to help was never a question.

“I’m not trained as a first responder,” Weir said. “But I can probably at least do something. So that’s why I was running.”

Weir said it took about 90 minutes before crews could rescue her.

Weir was discharged after treatment at University of Maryland Medical Center, where she works, said Lancaster. The hospital released a statement that read:

“Angie is a fabulous nurse, and we are not at all surprised that she risked her own life to save others. We are so grateful that she is OK. Every day she delivers compassionate and expert care to her patients in the Critical Care Resuscitation Unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She exemplifies the highest qualities of nursing and selflessness, and we are so proud to call her one of our own.”

Weir and her family are grateful she’s alive.

“I don’t know that I won’t get out the car, but I’ll probably do it much slower,” Weir said, laughing.

Weir is expected to make a full recovery and credits her good health before the fall.

The family teased Weir, who agreed, that the news headlines should read, “Nurse saved by her CrossFit butt.”

Contributing: The Associated Press