MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Not every family spent Thanksgiving around the dinner table.
One Mid-South family spent theirs at the hospital.
Earlier this week, WREG told you about a crash on I-240 in which several people were injured; one couple even trapped in a burning car.
On Thursday, some of their relatives reached out to WREG to thank the good Samaritans that rescued them.
“They’re the reason that they’re with us today. They got them out and we’re thankful, so thankful they were there,” said Michelle Reason.
David and Judy Cotton were banged up and bruised, but escaped being burned.
They were riding in a Kia Soul when witnesses said bikes fell off a truck and the couple ran over them.
After seeing WREG’s story the day of the crash, the couple’s family realized things could have been worse had it not been for a mother and her son.
“If we hadn’t of been there, the car bursts in flames, it actually burned up. They could have been gone,” said Mary Ellis, the mother who helped rescue the couple.
What Ellis and her son, Theatrice Kimble did is likely the reason the couple is alive today.
“With the way society is and with the way everybody acts nowadays with so much hatred in the world, to see that kind of love come from somebody, just total strangers, it’s incredible,” said family member Sonny Mask.
The Mask family hopes the son and his mother will contact them so they can thank them personally.
They also hope they can answer questions about what happened because the Cottons don’t remember.
“They remember the bicycle being in the road and that’s the last thing she remembers,” said another family member, Windell Mask.
One of those bicycles was still on the side of the highway when WREG went back on Thursday and the couple is still in the hospital.
However, doctors said it won’t be long before they will be well enough to go home.
Mr. Cotton’s wallet was stolen in the emergency room area while waiting to be admitted.
The family said that doesn’t overshadow the kindness Ellis and Kimble showed on the highway that day.
