MNeagle
4th February 2011, 10:27 AM
MILWAUKEE - A Wisconsin man who spent four hours buried in snow during this week's blizzard says he just closed his eyes and wondered if it would be the day he died.
Sixty-six-year-old Joe Latta, who lives alone, headed for his mailbox at the end of his driveway in Janesville at the peak of the storm Wednesday morning, but lost his footing and ended up on his back in the deep snow. Latta couldn't move. Then a snowplow rumbled by and buried Latta. Police say he was stuck under more than two feet of snow. Only his gloved hand was free.
It wasn't until a neighbor, Betsy Nelson, spotted Latta's hand in the snow bank that his fortunes turned. Nelson called another neighbor, off-duty firefighter Todd Herrington, who started digging. Emergency crews were called and Latta was rushed by ambulance to Mercy Hospital, where his body temperature was stabilized.
http://www.startribune.com/local/115285234.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUi D3aPc:_Yyc:aUvckD8EQDUs
Sixty-six-year-old Joe Latta, who lives alone, headed for his mailbox at the end of his driveway in Janesville at the peak of the storm Wednesday morning, but lost his footing and ended up on his back in the deep snow. Latta couldn't move. Then a snowplow rumbled by and buried Latta. Police say he was stuck under more than two feet of snow. Only his gloved hand was free.
It wasn't until a neighbor, Betsy Nelson, spotted Latta's hand in the snow bank that his fortunes turned. Nelson called another neighbor, off-duty firefighter Todd Herrington, who started digging. Emergency crews were called and Latta was rushed by ambulance to Mercy Hospital, where his body temperature was stabilized.
http://www.startribune.com/local/115285234.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUi D3aPc:_Yyc:aUvckD8EQDUs