Glendale teen who narrowly survived crash thanks rescuers
Perry Vandell
Five months had passed before Landrie Stahl was able to personally thank the people who saved her from a car crash that nearly turned deadly.
The 19-year-old woman gathered with her family at a Glendale fire station Friday morning to thank a Good Samaritan who helped her at the scene and the first-responders who treated her.
It was a night her family would never forget but one she barely remembers.
Movie night gone south
Stahl and her friend had the night of May 21 all planned out.
The two teenagers had just left Walmart with food and soda to go watch a marathon of Disney movies back home.
They were heading southbound when another car turning left at the intersection of 59th and Northern avenues in Glendale failed to yield and smashed into the front door of their car.
Claude Boone heard the crash and looked into his rear-view mirror where he saw a car spin across the intersection before striking a nearby pole. Boone made a U-turn and sped back to the intersection he just passed where a crowd of onlookers had gathered.
He moved through the crowd to get a closer look and noticed neither the driver or passenger were moving. He asked another man to help him pull the women out of the wreckage, but the man refused because he feared a lawsuit.
Boone moved to the passenger-side door where he saw Stahl with her face in her lap. Her friend, the vehicle's driver, whose name has not been released, was screaming about her unresponsive friend.
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Boone pushed Stahl upright and checked her midsection.
It wasn't moving.
"My only thought was 'Alright, I gotta grab her,'" Boone said Friday.
After checking to make sure she was safe to move, Boone began pulling Stahl out of the car when she gasped for air.
Boone was laying Stahl on her side when Glendale Police Officer Tyson Shawcroft arrived at the scene to help. Shawcroft tried to get information from Stahl's friend but said she was too worried about Stahl's condition to answer his questions.
Shawcroft was most concerned about Stahl's breathing, which went from huffing to no breathing, to a long gasp for air. He was relieved when the paramedics arrived to rush her to the hospital.
He eventually got Stahl's friend to tell him the woman's last name, which seemed familiar.
Stahl's father happened to be a Glendale Police officer as well.
Road to recovery
James Stahl was asleep in bed when his wife, Natalie, woke him up. Multiple police officers were at the door with some news — never a good sign, he said.
"It was nerve-wracking," Stahl said. "Because I knew that they were there to basically make an announcement that my daughter was not alive anymore."
When they learned that wasn't the case, the two parents rushed to the hospital, where a doctor told them their daughter had a broken collarbone and multiple head fractures that caused a brain hemorrhage.
Even if she survived, they wouldn't know if their daughter would leave the hospital on her own two feet or if she'd need help with daily tasks for the rest of her life.
Several days later, Landrie Stahl woke up.
Her first memory after the accident was a police officer wearing a black shirt and jeans standing at her bedside. Stahl asked if she could touch the officer's badge and raised her shaking arm when the officer told her she could.
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After a bit of a struggle, Stahl's hand touched the metal star.
"I felt so happy because I touched the badge," Stahl said.
She still doesn't know who the officer was, only that she was on the shorter side and had long black hair.
Stahl's family was at her bedside constantly as she underwent treatment. Multiple surgeons initially refused to treat Stahl's broken collarbone. One didn't want to give her an unseemly scar. Another said he was too inexperienced. The surgeon who finally operated on Stahl was number eight, family members said.
The traumatic brain injury has caused the most problems. Stahl's speech initially was slurred and she had trouble remembering anything after elementary school. A speech therapist taught Stahl how to play solitaire until she could teach them how to play.
Stahl still has trouble remembering things but has numerous doctors appointments scheduled into 2019.
She said her friend, whom she didn't want to name, had a broken arm and foot, the latter of which received multiple surgeries.
Ghosts of the past
Shortly after she awoke, Stahl asked her father if she could watch the policy body camera footage of the accident. She wanted to see the events that changed her life forever.
The two watched the unredacted footage captured by Shawcroft's camera in the hospital together, where they heard her labored breathing and saw her face drenched with blood.
Though she was able to see what happened to her, Stahl said she doesn't have any nightmares about the event.
Getting behind the wheel was another story.
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"The first day that I drove, people kept swerving into my lane and I was like 'This is really bad' and so I would panic, and the first thing I would do is cover my head," Stahl said.
Her father still worries about her driving but won't let his concern limit his daughter's independence.
"She's a teenager and it's extremely nerve-wracking," Stahl said. "And she still likes to stay out late and it bothers the crap out of me. But, at the same time, I have to step back and — she's 19 years old — and I have to trust that she's making good decisions. And I think she does."
Officers didn't find signs of impairment with the other driver, who was issued a traffic citation.
Turning toward the future
Stahl hopes to resume her academic career at Glendale Community College, where she's studying to become a flight paramedic.
Stahl said she initially wanted to be a police officer but said her father wasn't a fan of that idea. She looked into being a trauma nurse but said the restrictions in how she could treat people turned her away from the profession.
In the meantime, Stahl keeps busy by being a nanny and running her business Traveling Princesses where she dresses up as various characters for children. She has also applied to be a 911 dispatcher.
The Stahl family is also making sure their first meeting with Boone won't be the last. The two parties could be heard planning an upcoming barbecue.
Reach the reporter Perry Vandell at 602-444-2474 or perry.vandell@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @PerryVandell.
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