Yahoo News Mom uses location-tracking app to find daughter, 17, pinned under car after accident
A mother, who was concerned after her daughter missed curfew by several hours, used a location-tracking app and found the 17-year-old pinned under her car in a 25-feet deep embankment following an accident.
Catrina Alexander tracked down her daughter, Macy Smith, on June 7 in Pilot Mountain, N.C. According to Greensboro, N.C. news station WFMY-TV, Alexander was worried after her daughter stayed out past curfew and was unresponsive to text messages and phone calls.
She decided to get in her car and search for Smith by checking her location through Apple’s Find My Friends app. In using the app, which allows an approved person to access the GPS location of the user's Apple mobile device, she noticed her daughter had been in the same location for an extended period of time.
"I can't explain watching the GPS on my phone with my dot for my phone getting close to hers, and then suddenly seeing the tire tracks," Alexander told WFMY-TV.
In a Facebook post, Smith wrote that she hydroplaned at 4:00 p.m. and was only found by her family around 10:30 p.m. The 17-year old describes how her car flipped three times, causing her to land in the back seat with her arm “pinned between the car and the ground.”
When Alexander found her daughter, she called 911 and EMS removed the 17-year-old from her car and took her to the hospital. She fractured her neck and lost feeling in her left arm in the crash, Smith’s Facebook post said.
According to the Greensboro news outlet, the teenager is just thankful to be alive, and she and her mother want to encourage other families to use location-tracking apps, like the one that saved her life.
"I just hope that all parents and teenagers will encourage their families to get this app," Smith said.
While many comments on Smith’s Facebook post praise the app and Alexander’s quick thinking, one person mentioned that these types of accidents need to be prevented and urged people to reach out to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
“This happened in the curve just below our house. This is the 7th wreck in this same area that I am aware of,” the comment reads. “I’m sure there have been more that we didn’t know about. I’m so thankful that she is going to be ok. I would encourage you to contact the NCDOT about placing a guard rail in this sharp curve as I will be calling them too.”
Macy Smith, Catrina Alexander, representatives from NCDOT and officials from the Surry County Police Department did not immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment.
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