— Recounted in chilling detail where minutes seem like hours, the 911 call from the aftermath of the plane propeller accident that nearly killed Lauren Scruggs has been made public.
Only days after a rehabilitating Scruggs was seen publicly for the first time since the incident, TMZ.com posted the audio Friday of a 911 call filled with graphic and intense details of the immediate aftermath of her accident on Dec. 3. Scruggs, a 23-year-old Dallas-area model and fashion blogger, accidentally walked into a spinning plane-propeller in darkness following a flight to view Christmas lights in the Dallas area. Her left hand was immediately severed and her left eye was damaged so severely it later had to be removed. She also suffered brain and shoulder injuries.
“A girl walked into an airplane prop,’’ a frantic female caller tells the 911 operator at 8:48 p.m. “I need an ambulance immediately.’’
Speaking to another person nearby at the scene, the caller then asks, “Is that her hand? I think it cut her hand off.’’
After the caller relays to the operator that Scruggs is on the ground and not moving, she hands the phone to a male caller. The new caller notes that Scruggs is conscious and breathing. The caller is then asked where specifically she is injured or bleeding.
“We don’t know, we haven’t turned her over,’’ he says. “I don’t know where else she’s hurt.’’
As the operator tries to get more details about the situation, Scruggs can be heard moaning and wailing in agony in the background.
The operator urges someone at the scene to get clean towels to apply pressure to the area where Scruggs was bleeding. However, she is face down on the ground and the operator instructs the caller not to move her because of a possible head or neck injury, so those gathered around are not able to determine the exact spot of the bleeding other than that it appears to be coming from part of her head.
At the end of the call at 8:54 p.m., members of the local fire department and emergency personnel arrive and transport her to a local hospital.
Since that horrific night, Scruggs has made encouraging progress. On Tuesday, she was photographed while leaving her rehabilitation center in Dallas, walking without assistance and appearing relaxed with her blonde hair tucked under a Dallas Cowboys hat. She had a white patch concealing the removal of her left eye as a result of the accident, and had her jacket pulled down over her left arm.
“I don’t know how to thank each one of you, properly, for so much love during this difficult incident in my life,’’ Scruggs wrote on her blog on Jan. 9. “My heart is so grateful beyond what I could ever imagine. So thank you dearly for the sweet encouragements, the precious words in letters and messages, the beautiful grace in pretty presents, but mostly I am so SO thankful for you and your loving hearts and sweet spirits.’’
Her family has also regularly updated her progress on the site CaringBridge.org, which has received more than a million views on the page dedicated to Scruggs.