May 2, 2009 -- Anne Higham, 38, died early Saturday morning in Upper Carolina, St. John, when the car she was driving apparently veered off the road, according to police, and plunged 60 or 70 feet down a steep, heavily wooded hillside.
Neighbors identified the passenger in her car as Brian Hadley. The two lived near where the accident occurred.
According to Police Department spokesman Melody Rames, the road was "wet and slick" when Higham hit a curve in the road.
Both were transported to Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center. Rames said Higham was pronounced dead at 7:10 a.m. at the health center. Hadley was treated and released, neighbors said. Rames had no information on Hadley's injuries, but neighbor Sharon Coldren, who was on the scene, said he was "bruised and shaken up."
Neighbors were first on the scene after they heard what they said sounded like a landslide at around 5:45 a.m. Several said it appeared that the car didn't make the turn as it drove toward Centerline Road from the last downhill section of the road that leads out of Upper Carolina. The car went off the road and landed about 60 to 70 feet down a heavily wooded steep hillside.
"I heard him screaming her name," Pam Gaffin, who lives on the lower side of Centerline Road near the accident scene, said.
Sharon Coldren, who lives above the accident, heard the car hit at least five times as it bounced down the hill.
Neighbors were able to pinpoint the accident's location because the car's battery fell onto Centerline Road, Coldren and Gaffin both said.
At noon Saturday, the car remained where it landed, perched not far from the edge of a cliff and in danger of tumbling onto Centerline Road, neighbors said.
The car was pointed uphill, suggesting that it flipped around as it flew through the air. The path downhill to the car was strewn with papers, a T-shirt and a laundry basket.
Higham once worked for Coral Bay resident Bonny Corbeil at Corbeil's long-closed Luscious Licks restaurant.
"She was a really up person and a chatterbox," Corbeil said.
According to Corbeil, Higham was known for her artwork and her creation of July 4th Celebration T-shirts.
Coldren and Gaffin both had good words to say about the neighborhood response. Coldren said neighbors, including herself, were on the scene almost immediately. She called 911, and said she was pleased with the response from the Police Department's dispatch. Coldren said she was quickly switched to the Cruz Bay police station, where she gave the officer on duty the specifics of the accident's location.
Police response time in Coral Bay has been an issue because the officers have to make a 20-minute drive from Cruz Bay, but Coldren said she had no complaints this time. Gaffin saw it differently, and said when she called 911, someone put her on hold. Gaffin said eventually she hung up and called Emergency Medical Services, where she said the phone rang but no one answered.
Both Gaffin and Coldren said firefighters from the Coral Bay fire station were first on the scene. They serve as first responders in the Coral Bay area and were sent to the scene by the police dispatcher. Gaffin and Coldren said St. John Rescue showed up soon after to begin retrieval and rescue operations. EMS followed, with the police arriving later.
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