Woman ‘brought back to life’ after being pinned by SUV at Indiana toll booth

A Michigan woman was “brought back to life” after being pinned by her own SUV Saturday night at a toll booth in northwest Indiana.

About 9:20 p.m., a trooper responded to a crash at the West Point Toll Plaza on the Indiana Toll Road, which is roughly a mile east of the Illinois-Indiana border, according to Indiana State Police. When the trooper arrived, he saw the 40-year-old woman trapped between the toll booth and a silver Buick SUV.

The woman was unconscious and had no pulse when she was found by the trooper, who then had a bystander hold onto her as he tried to move the SUV, state police said. When the woman was freed, the trooper checked her vital signs a second time but still couldn’t find a pulse.

After a defibrillator also failed to find the woman’s pulse, the trooper attempted to administer CPR as emergency crews arrived on the scene, state police said. While the woman was being loaded onto a stretcher, the defibrillator activated twice and resuscitated her.

She was taken to Franciscan Health Hammond in serious condition and later airlifted to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, state police said.

Witnesses said the woman had taken a long time to pay her toll, and they reported seeing her open her door to grab a debit card that had fallen onto the ground, state police said.

After the woman put her leg out between her Buick and the toll booth, the SUV “lurched forward” and the woman became trapped between the open door and the waist-high toll box that the toll gate is mounted to, state police said. A witness then pushed the help button at the toll gate and unsuccessfully tried to open the Buick’s locked passenger side door.

The woman was still awake and speaking at the time, but she was eventually wedged further into the toll box when her SUV moved forward twice, state police said. The witness and another male subsequently rolled her passenger side window down and put the Buick in park before the trooper and a toll attendant showed up at the scene.