CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, June 12, 1996
5A
Student recalls near-drowning
Continued from page 1A
Ironically, Lawrence firefighters were already on the bridge, having just rescued two people stranded in a tree in the same ditch.
Pullen said seeing the firefighters kept him from panicking.
"It's scarier to lose control than to accept that your life is in someone else's hands for one minute," Pullen said.
He had been breathing from an air pocket inside the back window, but when he went up for his last breath, his mouth couldn't reach the air.
"So I leaned back and shoved my head up as hard as I could and got my last breath through my nose," Pullen said.
By this time, Lt Joe Schumburg of the Lawrence fire department was tied to the bridge and standing on the back of the car, trying to break the back window with an axe.
Pullen said he'd been holding his breath for about 30 seconds
"So Icleaned
back and shoved my head up as hard as I could and got my last breath through my nose."
Overland Parks sophomore
when Schaumburg's axe broke through the glass. Pullen said he felt more victorious than relieved.
"When I heard the crack and shot my hands up through the hole, I felt like I had won." Pullen said. "I felt exhilarated by the fact that I got out and had somehow cheated death."
Schaumburg and two other firefighters pulled Pullen from the car to safety.
Schaumburg said he was relieved that Pullen was conscious and alert. Pullen didn't need to seek medical attention until the next day.
Norris said she started worrying after about 30 minutes, figuring Pullen's car had stalled.
When Pullen called from Dillons minutes later and explained the situation to Norris, she said she was in shock and she didn't understand what had happened.
Pullen's father, Chuck, was also on the road that night. The self-employed cab driver from Topeka was driving four Amtrak passengers from the Kansas City area to Emporia to bypass flooded areas and didn't get home until 8 a.m.
He had glanced at the news and saw the car in the drainage ditch but didn't recognize it.
Chuck Pullen's cordless phone was acting up, producing a false busy signal when Mark tried to
call. He said he didn't find out about the incident until he called his son at about 3 p.m. Thursday.
"I called to see how he was doing," Chuck Pullen said. "I said, 'Did you get washed away by the flood?' and he said, 'Dad, I owe you a car.'"
Chuck Pullen said the car only had liability insurance, meaning it only covers damage to other vehicles. The car was a total loss; no parts could be salvaged.
Mark Pullen said that since the ordeal he has had a hard time sleeping and had a horrible headache for three days, a result of banging his head for the final breath in the car.
He returned Monday to work in the KU purchasing office and to his CHEM 188 class.
He said he had been catching himself replaying the scene in his mind an e-revaluating what he did to save himself.
"The worst thing is that I get mad at myself because I'll think of things I could have done differently," Pullen said.
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