Updates on this family tragedy. The media has turned Hero into a Villian. Many people have heard about the crash on Hwy 23 here in Milaca yesterday morning that killed 13 year old Katrina Maetzold. Because her brother ( Tristan age 17) was driving the four children to school and when police and EMTs arrived it appeared the children were not wearing seat belts, The news is making Tristan out to be the bad guy. And making Katrina a victim of careless teen driving. This is NOT the case. As family and friends of the Maetzolds and knowing Tristan and Katrina for as many years as I have I knew this was wrong. The news reported that Patience (age 16 with Downs Syndrome) had a few cuts and bruises, that Tristan had a broken leg and that Devon (age 11) had a head injury and was unconscious. This is also wrong. Today I stood next to Tristans bed and held his hand while he told me the whole story of the accident and I got other pieces from their parents.The kids usually leave the house around 7:30 yesterday they left a little late at about 7:35-7:40 at exactly 7:49 was when their father got the call from Tristan about the accident. The whole thing took about 15 minutes. When the kids left for the less then 1 mile trip to school they were all buckled except Devon. The left side of the van was frosted over. Devon had been teasing Tristan that he pulled too close at stop signs so he stopped like 10 feet further back then he needed too and creep-ed forward. He looked left saw some headlights in the distance, Looked right and there were some cars way far back and then he looked left again and still headlights far off in the distance. He pulled out and suddenly there was a Semi right there on the left side. Katrina unbuckled and screamed Semi! Ive got Patience! and dove into the backseat covering her older sister with her own body, Before she had finished saying that Tristan had absorbed what she was saying and had taken off his own seat belt and dove on top of Devon. The impact of the semi knocked him senseless for a few seconds and when he came to he was hanging out of the front seat of the mini-van. He discovered his arm was broken when he moved it but using his other hand was able to rip his sleeve free so he could have some more range of motion. He could see blood pooling out of the car but wasnt sure where it came from. He hear gurgling coming from his brother and (screaming in pain the whole time) grabbing the scruff of his coat hauled Devon over the back of the seat into his lap. He then held his face down in his lap so his brother could breathe but was no longer drowning in his own blood. He knew the girls had been thrown from the car. He then used his cell phone to call his father.Adrenaline made it possible for him to do those things. To react and move that fast to be able to think quickly enough to keep Devon breathing. By covering Devon with his own body he was between Devon and the dashboard. Devon has suffered a serious head injury and brain swelling from his head hitting his brothers chest. This also caused Tristans right lung to collapse. There was a metal rod that flew through the car and embedded itself in the drivers seat. If Tristan hadnt have left his seat to protect his brother it would have killed him. It is possible that this rod also sliced through Patiences seat belt which is what caused it to fail and caused her to be ejected from the vehicle. At this point we arent sure. Patiences injuries are a broken collar bone, cuts and lacerations to her face and hands, and many bruises. Tristans full list of injuries are broken leg, broken arm, collapsed lung, a piece of glass in his eye causing double vision, fractured skull, a large laceration across his forehead, many many many cuts, lacerations, scrapes, and bruises to his hands. If his injuries had been as minimal as the news reported he would not have been airlifted from the accident scene.Katrina is the hero here - She saw the semi first and with her quick thinking and shouted warning and fast reaction she saved all of them. She also gave her own life protecting Patience. Katrina was killed on impact. We saw Patience today and she is doing pretty well. We brought her some toys as she seemed kind of bored and her parents need to focus on her brothers and arrangements for Katrina.The way the media is portraying this horrifying tragedy it needs to be corrected. Please as many people as possible write into wcco, and the mille lacs county times and tell them to get their facts straight. This story came straight from Tristan. He is an amazing brother and has been care-taker and companion for Patience and the model big brother his whole life. He NEVER would have been careless the way they are trying to make him out to be.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 00:09:17 +0000