The woman who claims she was the first to spot Sherri Papini on the side of the road and call 911 said the fleeing mother “was looking panicked and frightened.”
Alison Sutton was driving with her daughter on the way to a Thanksgiving celebration when she came upon a woman on the shoulder of Interstate 5 in rural Yolo County.
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“I saw this woman with long blond hair in the right shoulder of the freeway and she was waving a piece of fabric that looked like a shirt, waving it up and down trying to flag someone down,” Sutton told PEOPLE. “It was obvious: She needed help.”
Startled, Sutton continued on to a point where she could stop and figure out where she was.
“I was going so fast, it was like she came out of nowhere. It startled me,” recalled Sutton. “She was really close to the side of the road. I said to my daughter, ‘I could have hit her,’ ” if she had swerved.
She added: “I remember thinking she must be cold, because whatever she was wearing didn’t look like it was warm enough for the conditions outside. It was probably in the mid-30’s.”
Officials located Papini, who was reportedly bound and injured, and brought her to the hospital. She has since been reunited with her family.
“I feel blessed to witness this small miracle,” Sutton said of her role in the woman’s rescue.
This article first appeared on Womanista.com
