KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Three people were rescued Tuesday night in Northeast Knoxville after the Jeep they were in plunged down a 45-foot embankment.
The accident happened just before 11 p.m. on an off-road trail in the 2700 block of Loves Creek Road at Millertown Pike.
Two women and one man were in the 1999 Jeep Wrangler when it went over the embankment.
The Jeep dropped nose first into the ground below and then flipped onto its roll bar, trapping all three.
A rescue operation freed two people around 1:00 a.m. Wednesday and the third was rescued shortly after that. Officials say the three were unfamiliar with the trail they were on and did not see it drop off.
Police identified the driver as Angela Massey, 46. Her passengers were Stephen Pickford, 47, and his wife, Connie Pickford, 46. All three are from Knoxville.
Massey and Connie Pickford were treated and released from UT Medical Center.
Stephen Pickford remained in the hospital Wednesday.
Angela Massey spoke to 6 News Wednesday about the accident. She's friends with the Pickfords and had decided to take them on their first off-roading experience.
"I put their lives in their hands. If I would have killed him, I don't know how I would have dealt with it," Massey said.
She suffered a bruised sternum and bruises to her ankle and pelvic area. She says it was first time she's ridden on the path.
"We had been told about the four-wheel path behind Kohl's and came out right there at Food City," Massey said.
She says it was getting dark as she rode on the paths and she approached the drop not knowing it was an embankment of 45 feet.
"The trail goes and all the sudden, it's the drop-off. It's kind of deceiving," Massey said.
Rescue squad members and firefighters hoisted the three from the Jeep, a rescue effort that took nearly three hours.
"I was really feeling the anxiety from being trapped, and not knowing what was going to happen," Massey said.
She added that she might have gone faster if she was riding in the daytime and estimate that the Jeep was going around 20 miles per hour before it plunged.
Massey advises riders to be cautious when riding at night. "When you're four-wheeling, if you have never been on a trail it might be better to check it out during the day so that way you have an idea where you're going," she said.
The Knoxville Police Department says no charges are being considered at this time.
Investigators are trying to determining who owns the property, according to police spokesman Darrell DeBusk. He says there doesn't appear to be trespassing issues, since there aren't any no trespassing signs posted near the off-road trail.
Rescuers carry one of the injured to an ambulance.
