Motorist rescued after 10 hours in buried car

A man who NEW YORK — drove off the road in this week’s snowstorm spent 10 hours trapped in his car after a passing plow buried it, finally managing to get a 911 call through and being rescued in the nick of time by aNewYork state trooper.

Kevin Kresen, 58, of Candor, droveoffthe road in the townofOwego and became “plowedinby a truck,” state police said.

“If he was in there for another hour his body temperature would have gone lower, and I’m convinced hewouldn’t havemade it,” State Police Sgt. Jason Cawley, who rescued the man, said in an interview.

Kresen drove off the road around midnight and called 911 through the wee hours of Thursday but had trouble connecting.

“He finally got through a few times and was geolocated, but not very well because of the spottiness of the reception,” Cawley said.

First responders narrowed the call to a 3-mile stretch along the Susquehanna River in Owego, outside Binghamton, which got over 40 inches of snow in the storm.

Cawley climbed miles of snowbanks, finally happening on one that looked slightlydifferent. Hebelieved at first that he was looking at a row of mailboxes.

“I reached in to find which addressIwasatwhen I punched the side window of a car,” Cawley said. “Iwas a little shocked because I was actually standing almost on top of the car.”

The 22-year-veteran of the State Police cleared off the glass and askedwhether anyone was inside.

“’I’m inside the car and I can’t feelmy feet,’” Kresen told him.

“My heart jumped,” Cawley said. He dug Kresen out with the help of a passerby.

Kresenwas suffering from hypothermia and frostbite and had gotten to the point where he had stopped shivering, Cawley said.

“That’s a very bad place to be when your body has

stopped making heat and stopped trying to warm itself,” he said.

Kresen, whose speechwas slurring, was helped into a marked police car and then driven to an ambulance, where he began warming up.

“He was grateful to have been pulled out,” said Cawley, who called the case his “first Arctic rescue.”

NEWYORK STATE POLICE PHOTOS VIA AP NewYork State Police Sgt. Jason Cawley rescued Kevin Kresen, 58, fromthis car Thursday, where he spent 10 hours buried under 4 feet of snowafter hewas “plowed in by a truck.”

Kevin Kresen, 58, andNewYork State Police Sgt, Jason Cawley, in Lourdes Hospital, in Binghamton, N.Y. Cawley rescued Kresen fromhis car, where hewas stranded for 10 hours, covered by nearly 4 feet of snow.