Local

Jacksonville woman, injured after being pinned by truck, thanks good Samaritans who saved her

In an interview you’ll see only on Action News Jax, a local woman describes the pain when she was pinned under her truck after a rollover crash.

Sky Action News Jax showed you that damage Thursday, just after several good Samaritans rushed in to save the victim.

“I felt my jaw break, and I felt my tooth break and I felt the bones in my head start to fracture,” said Ja’Net Bauer, who goes by Nikki.

Bauer is at UF Health.  She’s in a lot of pain, but she wanted to speak with Action News Jax to show her gratitude to those who saved her.

“I took my last breath, begging for them to lift that truck,” Bauer said.  “And when they lifted that truck off of me, I guess you could say I took a new breath.”

That new breath is a new lease on life.

Thursday, Bauer was pinned under her truck, which flipped through the air after FHP said one of her tires blew and she lost control on I-10 near State Road 23.

Tuesday night, Action News Jax introduced you to the first two men on the scene.

“I screamed as loud as I could with the last breath that I took that I couldn’t breathe anymore,” Bauer said.  “I was dying, to please save my life.”

Four men flipped Bauer’s truck over and got her out.  Then, rescue crews rushed her to the hospital.

“Instead of feeling like I was going to die alone and leave my family behind, I was given a chance to give back some of what was given to me,” Bauer said.

Six days after the crash, she gave a thumbs up from her hospital bed, and a "thank you" to the people who could’ve kept driving that day but chose not to.

“All I can say is thank you because I wouldn’t be here,” Bauer said.  “I wouldn’t be able to say thank you without them stopping and helping.”

Thursday, Bauer will have a procedure on her broken jaw.  She said doctors may have to wire it shut, and that’s on top of her multiple facial and skull fractures.

She has a long road ahead but hopes to be home as soon as the weekend.