Woman headed for Thanksgiving with her family walks away unhurt when her car crashes on I-85
By TIM GULLA Ledger Staff Writer tim@gaffneyledger.com

Easley resident Laura Barry, at right, tells family members by cell phone that she's unharmed following a crash on Interstate 85 in Gaffney on Wednesday morning. She was traveling to Charlotte to catch a flight for the Thanksgiving holiday when a witness said one of her tires burst and sent her car out of control.

Laura Barry missed her flight for a Thanksgiving with her family and couldn't regret it.

She was alive, relieved and reflective about what could have been.

Without a scratch, the Easley resident was pulled from her car Wednesday morning just seconds after her vehicle spun out of control on Interstate 85 and crashed through a chain-link fence.

Taking out a speed limit sign along the way, the car ended up on its roof on the edge of Canty Way near I-85 mile marker 93.

"Isn't it amazing," she asked while looking at her mangled Toyota and her lack of injury.

"God was with you," replied Charles MacDougall, a big rig driver from Jonesville who witnessed the crash and helped assist Barry out of the wreckage.

MacDougall, who was hauling a load of sewer pipes to North Carolina, said Barry's rear tire blew out after she passed his and another tractor-trailer, which had been slowing down. "She wasn't speeding or nothing," MacDougall said. "The tire just went."

Barry was on her way to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport to catch a flight to Virginia Beach, where she planned to spend the holiday with her family.

She didn't know what happened initially.

"I was gripping the wheel and just watched it spin," she said. "I think what was going through my mind was keeping it under control, and having no control."

Between phone calls to worried family members to let them know she was unharmed, Barry said incident would no doubt be lifechanging.

"I think I'm a woman of faith, but don't necessarily apply it to every day of my life," she conceded. "I think I'm going to take

faith) a little more seriously."

Her lack of injuries could have been a message.

"Obviously, my work here isn't done," she said.

With holiday travel plans canceled, Barry said she would likely spend the holiday at the Berea Fire Department, where her husband, Michael, is a firefighter.

The Gaffney Fire Department responded to the accident scene, as did the South Carolina Highway Patrol.