Rachael Thompson was driving the truck on her way to St. Albans High School when she was apparently distracted by a flock of geese. She says she swerved and hit a tree. Her truck then plummented into the Coal River.

Thompson says the cab of the truck filled up with water, but somehow she managed to open the door and get out. She climbed up the bank and her mother happened to be passing by on her way to work and picked up her daughter. Amazingly Thompson suffered only a few cuts and bruises in the accident.