CHANCE MEETING ON DESERTED BRIDGE ENDS IN TERROR, HEROISM

SIKESTON -- Robert Neal had crossed the old one-lane bridge hundreds of times before on his way home. But in the rain Monday night, his car's wheel seemed to catch against a board in the bridge, beginning a horrific few minutes that those involved never will forget.

Not Robert and Connie Neal, who nearly lost an infant son and a 4-year-old nephew in the accident. And not Woodrow Wilson Jr., who doesn't think of himself as a hero.

Authorities say Wilson's efforts helped save the Sikeston family from drowning in a rain-swollen ditch along a Scott County road.

"I feel if anybody had been in the same situation, they would have done the same thing," the 28-year-old rural Sikeston man said Tuesday.

The accident occurred on Scott County Road 450, four miles north of Sikeston at 6:43 p.m.

The Missouri Highway Patrol said the car, driven by Robert N. Neal, 22, skidded off a wooden, one-lane bridge and overturned in 3 to 4 feet of water.

Neal and his wife, Connie, 21, sustained minor injuries. Their 5-week-old son, Josh T. Neal, and their nephew, Lorne Boone Thompson, 4, suffered more serious injuries.

All four were taken to Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. Robert and Connie Neal were treated and released. The two children, neither of whom was breathing when pulled from the water, were transferred to St. Louis Children's Hospital around 11:30 p.m. Monday.

Josh Neal was reported in critical but stable condition in the intensive care unit Tuesday night. He was breathing with the aid of a respirator.

Doctors are unsure whether he has contracted pneumonia, but expect the baby to remain in the hospital at least two more weeks, his mother said.

Young Thompson, who sustained some bumps and bruises, was expected to be released from the hospital today.

Wilson of Sikeston Route 2 and his wife, Dawn Renee, were westbound in their vehicle on the dark, rainy night when the accident occurred. They were waiting for the Neals' Geo to cross the one-lane bridge when it skidded off into a gully and landed upside own in the water.

Wilson reacted quickly, driving up to the edge of the bridge and training his headlights upon the water-filled ditch. He jumped out and got into the water.

Wilson said he reacted instinctively. "I knew something had to be done."

Wilson said the water was "up to my waist or better."

Inside the compact car, Robert Neal was frantically trying to release everyone else's seat belt. He'd quickly unlatched his own when he realized the car was headed into the water.

Water was rushing in. With Wilson pulling and Robert Neal kicking on the door, it opened. He got out and the rush of water became a flood. In the cold, muddy water, Neal was unable to see any of his family and couldn't get the hatchback to open to get at Boone.

"I knew they were dead," he said. "Then my wife screamed."

When the car plunged into the water, Connie Neal said first thought was "Oh God, we're going to die."

Her baby was strapped in an infant car seat. "I was trying to keep the baby breathing and not getting him under water," she said. "The guy was hollering at Rob."

When they opened the door, the car immediately filled with water and turned over onto the passenger side. Then Wilson and Robert Neal righted the car.

"We were all under water," Connie Neal said. "We couldn't breath.

"(Josh) was drowning. He was trying to grab for me. He was so scared."

Then she felt herself being pulled through the water by the hair, and pushed her son ahead of her.

"He was already dead. I knew he was," she said.

"...I stood up in the water and saw Rob doing CPR on my baby."

Both she and her husband, a former Marine, had had CPR training, but it wasn't working on Josh. Her son was blue and turning purple.

Meanwhile, nobody could find Boone Thompson, who had been riding in the back of the car with his seat belt on.

At that time, Wilson's sister and her boyfriend happened to be passing by. They took Connie and Josh Neal to the Sikeston hospital.

Wilson said he and Robert Neal had a hard time rescuing the remaining passenger, Thompson.

"I kept searching," he recalled. "I couldn't find him. We were just running our hands up in there."

Wilson estimated that the Thompson boy was brought to the surface about four minutes after the car plunged into the ditch.

"It seemed like an hour," said Wilson. "There was a lot of chaos."

"He (Thompson) was completely limp."

They took him to a nearby mobile home after a boy who arrived at the scene indicated that his mother knew CPR.

The unidentified woman, a nurse, applied CPR. "She got the kid breathing, then we moved inside the trailer and more or less tried to keep him warm until the paramedics got there."

Jody Thompson, Boone's mother, said Tuesday from St. Louis that it's a miracle her son is alive.

"I feel like it was a miracle because I really thought he was dead," the Sikeston woman said.

Ironically, she had been in an accident earlier Monday evening in Sikeston. She said her car was rear-ended around 5 p.m.

Because of that, her brother, Robert Neal, picked up her son from the babysitter. The Neals' other son, 15-month-old Zachary, was staying with his grandmother.

Thompson said she went to the Sikeston hospital where she was treated for minor injuries.

She said her mother and father had come to the hospital.

"As we were leaving, that was when Connie came in with the baby.

"Connie was soaking wet and they were covered with dirt. It took us a minute to register that was her," Thompson said.

Seeing that her son was not with them, Thompson said she feared he was dead.

"I thought the worst," she recalled. It was another 15 minutes before paramedics brought her son to the Missouri Delta Medical Center.

"I was basically hysterical," she said. People in the waiting room of the Sikeston hospital were praying that her son was alive, she added.

"I felt better when I heard him scream," said Thompson.

"He was in shock; he screamed for about two hours," she said.

On the way to the hospital with her infant son, Connie Neal gave him CPR again. He finally began choking and crying.

"Five minutes after we got (to the hospital) I was told they found (Boone) and that he was OK," she said.

Connie said she had never been in a traffic accident before.

Wilson, who works in his family's pest-control business, was back at work Tuesday, putting the rescue behind him.

Robert Neal, a manager at Jiffy Lube in Cape Girardeau, and his wife Connie were staying with family in St. Louis and spending all their time at the hospital.

Their son's prognosis is good with regard to brain damage, doctors tell them, primarily because the water he was submerged in was so cold. Both boys' body temperatures were 30-32 degrees when brought to the hospital, Robert Neal said.