LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A woman injured in a 2021 tour bus crash near the Grand Canyon learned in October that another passenger had tried to free her from her seatbelt, after a social media post about her story drew a comment from that passenger.
The bus left Las Vegas before the crash. Becky Sullivan, from Florida, first talked to FOX5 last summer. Sullivan said she woke up strapped in her seat, sideways.
“Between the wreck and the shock and the brain injury, there are certain things I don’t remember,” Sullivan said.
She said one thing she remembers is “someone reaching for me and grabbing my hand.”
Google search leads to post
In October, Sullivan searched her name on Google. Information about the bus crash came up in the results.
Sullivan jokingly posted that Google knew who she was and attached the previous FOX5 story.
A woman named Sandra McDougal commented on the post: “Becky, I was the one who grabbed your hand.”
FOX5 talked to McDougal from Alabama.
“I said, hey Becky, did you know, and you saw the message, you know that was me,” McDougal said.
“I had no idea she had reached for my hand on the bus,” Sullivan said.
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McDougal was a passenger on the bus
McDougal was also a passenger in the crash.
“All of a sudden, we just went off the road and went airborne,” McDougal said. “Everybody was screaming.”
McDougal, who was in pain, found broken glass and tried to cut Sullivan’s seatbelt to free her.
“Cut it, cut it, cut it. That was the only thing that was there. It would not cut it,” McDougal said.
The attempt did not work. Then somehow, Sullivan’s seatbelt came free, and both women escaped the bus. An unknown man helped pull Sullivan out of the bus. Sullivan doesn’t know him but hopes he sees this story.
Women stayed in touch on Facebook
Sullivan and McDougal sat on a fire truck and talked while waiting for help. Sullivan did not know at that time that McDougal had just helped her.
“Before the day was over, we exchanged Facebook names and stayed in touch via Facebook all this time without me knowing she had tried to help me. And probably without her knowing that I was not aware that she had tried to help me. She probably thought I did know. And we just didn’t talk about it, but I had no idea.”
Sullivan, again, did not know until the October post.
“I’m sure she was in shock and wanted to get out of that bus,” Sullivan said. “But she still stopped and took the time to try and help me. It’s emotional. I’m thankful that she did care about me.”
Sullivan later made an AI social media post with a song she wrote. It shows McDougal grabbing her hand among some broken glass.
“It made me sad when I heard the song. It brought back a lot of memories. And I’m glad I could help her fill in some of the missing pieces…help get her out of there. I tried. I tried. That’s all I could do,” said McDougal.
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