GRANGER, Ohio — Four teenage girls were injured in a single-vehicle crash over the weekend, according to the Medina County Sheriff's Office, and they're crediting an iPhone feature for notifying dispatchers within seconds of impact.
At about 10:22 p.m. on Sunday, the sheriff's office received a 911 call from an Apple iPhone crash detection alert originating from one of the phones in the wrecked vehicle.
"So, the iPhone will alert you. If you don’t respond to that within 20 seconds, it will call 911 with an automated message, saying that a crash has been detected and automatically give your location," Deputy Matthew Denton said. "The fact that we can be notified within 20 seconds of a collision can possibly be the difference between life and death on someone."
Emergency personnel rushed to the scene of the crash at the 3800 block of State Road in Granger Township.
"It was actually a pretty horrific scene to see a tree that had major intrusion all the way through the engine compartment up to the firewall of the vehicle," Denton noted.
Three passengers were able to exit the vehicle by themselves. The driver, however, had to be extricated by "mechanical means," according to the Granger Fire Department. Denton says it took first responders about 45 minutes to get her out of the car.
She was flown to an area trauma center in critical condition. She remains in the hospital as of Wednesday night.
After an initial investigation, deputies found that the four girls were traveling southbound on State Road when the driver attempted to turn while speeding, losing control of the car.
"We know that it was traveling at a high rate of speed because of the length of the collision," Denton told 3News.
The vehicle then went off the roadway, hit a landscaping stone, and then slammed into a nearby tree head-on.
"The Medina County Sheriff’s Office reminds all parents and young drivers, that a 'probationary driver', a 16-year-old having their license less than 12 months, may not operate a vehicle with more than one non-family member as a passenger," authorities further said in a statement