Collins woman falls into well
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
A man in Collins came to the rescue of a his neighbor who was trapped inside a 20-foot-deep well Wednesday afternoon.
May Elliott, 76, was doing yardwork in the back of her Main Street home when she fell through the wooden board covering the well.
Elliott's neighbor, Ray Colpoys, says he heard her calling for help and held onto her for about 10 minutes before hooking her arm and leg around a pipe that ran along the side of the well.
At that point, Colpoys says he and another neighbor with the Collins Fire Department called the department to help pull her out.
Colpoys says Elliott was up to her neck in water.
"That well is about 20 foot deep. If that pipe wasn't there to grab her at first, she would've went right down and she would've drowned, said Ray Colpoys."
"There's not that many open wells, but when there is, they got to make sure that wood is replaced or cover them with steel," said Chief Dave North with the Collins Fire Department. "You can't use wood because it rotted just like in her case, it rotted out, she stepped on it and down she went."
Fire officials say Elliott was very fortunate because hypothermia was starting to set in.
Elliott was brought to Lake Shore Hospital. According to fire officials, she may have sustained a broken ankle.