A Sheridan woman who drove her car into a river says she…

Late Wednesday morning, Barbara Wegener had been sick with a cold for two days and was adjusting to a change in medication when she turned to pull out of the Coffey Avenue parking lot in Sheridan.

“It went dark and she woke up to her car’s airbag hitting her body and cold water pouring into her little red car,” Wegener told the Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

She fumbled to unbuckle her seat belt and jumped into the back seat. Meanwhile, people who saw her car go off the road in Little Goose Creek tried to get into her car. She said she had to lean back into the driver’s side area to unlock the door so they could get to her.

The Sheridan Police Department, Sheridan Fire Rescue and EMS responded at approximately 11:09 am. Responders pulled Wegener from the car and transported her to Sheridan Memorial Hospital.

Operation is possible

Feeling pain, Wegener, 52, gave a phone interview at the hospital on Thursday. She plans to stay there for the next two or three days.

Headache, chest, stomach, foot, left arm and legs ache. Hospital officials plan to x-ray her ailing mid-back to check for a broken vertebra.

If so, she may need surgery and can expect to be bedridden for the next two to four months, she said.

“They still don’t know why I passed out,” Wegener said.

Describing a recent medication change, she said her local doctor stopped several medications and asked her to increase others.

“You know as much as I do,” she said with a strained laugh.

Wegener’s oldest daughter, Jenny Leach, said the parking lot in question was between O’Reilly Auto Parts and Plains Tire. According to her, the car did not fly off the bridge, but fell into the embankment.

And Leach had a message for the many public commentators weighing in on the incident.

“It was not a suicide attempt,” Leach said. Her mother “has had numerous health problems over the years, and recently I had to take her back because things were getting too difficult for her to handle on her own, financially and otherwise.”

Leach said she and her younger sister will care for their mother during her recovery.

After you left

After Wegener was taken to the hospital, emergency crews attached the vehicle to a truck crane parked on the bridge about 20 feet above it and lifted it from the river onto the bridge.

Wegener has not been charged with any crimes, Sheridan police said in a statement Thursday.

Steve Schreffler, interactive media manager at Sheridan Media, happened to be wearing waterproof boots when someone sent him a tip about increased police presence on the bridge. It was around 11:30 in the morning and he was on his lunch break but he decided to go check it out.

Police at the scene did not release much information, and Wegener was no longer there. So Shreffler waded into the river and started shooting video.

He decided to show the video to a live audience to do his part to ensure normal traffic.

“A lot of people showed up on the scene just to check it out,” he said. “And we went live to hopefully help people (how) not to come forward and maybe influence (authorities’) efforts.”

The result was a picturesque 23-minute video of the creek shimmering under the methodical efforts of the bridge’s crank and cable.

Shreffler said Coffeen Avenue is one of the busiest streets in Sheridan.

He continued filming until the car was on the bridge—behind the crumbling autumn elm and olive trees framing the creek—then he thanked his audience and tipped off his hats to Sheridan’s emergency services.

Claire McFarland can be reached at the address [email protected].