An elderly driver, who landed in a ravine after accidentally hitting the accelerator instead of the brake at a stop sign, was trapped at the bottom of the Northwood Lake spillway for almost 14 hours until a city work crew noticed her wrecked car partially hidden in brush.
74-year-old Mary Rice Brown suffered minor injuries when her vehicle plowed through the intersection and into the spillway's ravine about 8 p-m Monday night.
Northport Public Works crew chief Mark Caine was the first person to notice the vehicle Tuesday morning at about 9 o'clock. Firefighters were able to use the jaws of life to free Brown about an hour later.
Police said besides minor cuts and bruises, Brown suffered hypothermia. Temperatures dipped to the mid 20s Monday night.
