This is how we roll in the burgh.
Brilliant move of Mr.Higinbotham (I loved typing this name) to yell "Fore!"...it's the only way to get a golfer to pay attention.....
A serious drive at Cloverleaf
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Golf was mixed with traces of NASCAR yesterday when a speeding SUV carrying five golfers zipped across fairways, slammed into a pine tree, spun around and burst into flames.
Dave Higinbotham watched the scene in horror from the third hole of the third nine of Delmont's Cloverleaf Golf Course. The SUV, he said, rushed up a hill, heading straight toward him at 50 mph.
It missed him, instead grazing his golf cart before zooming up the hill toward the tee of the fourth hole.
"I yelled as loud as I could yell, 'Fore, fore, fore!' " said Mr. Higinbotham, of Greensburg, who looked on as the SUV struck an oak tree and careened into a pine tree. It was the final stop on a crash course that sent five people to hospitals and golfers on a year-end outing scrambling for cover.
Mr. Higinbotham, 66, ran up the hill toward the fiery SUV, dialing 911 on his cell phone and shouting for his playing partners to help.
"I said, 'We've got to get these people out of the car,' " he said. Fellow golfers quickly joined Mr. Higinbotham, some in golf carts. "We pulled them out as gently as we could, then laid them on the ground."
Driver Paul Lazear, 82, and his four passengers, all from Wilkinsburg, were safe, but 2-foot flames still shot from SUV, Mr. Higinbotham said.
"I said, 'We've got to push this car out of the way, and away from these people,' " he said.
He and six other golfers started pushing, sliding the burning vehicle about 30 feet before emergency crews arrived and could treat the injured.
Mr. Lazear and passenger Carol Lazear, 72, were taken with minor injuries to Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital at Jeannette, state police said. Two other passengers, Ruth Daniels, 83, and Flora Lee Katz, 74, suffered moderate injuries and were treated at Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg. A fifth passenger, Bertram Katz, 80, was flown to UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland. State police said all of the injured were expected to recover.
Mr. Lazear told police that he'd "lost his brakes and couldn't stop." His collision course started in the course's north parking lot, where police said he hit a parked car and kept driving, first across some large stones and then onto the golf course. He picked up speed as he headed west across the first hole of the first nine's tee box, and continued, just missing the clubhouse as he veered onto a path and back into the parking lot.
Mr. Lazear didn't stop there. He told police he couldn't.
They said he crossed Cloverleaf Drive through the south parking lot and again onto the golf course, gaining speed. Heading north, the SUV jumped a ditch and kept going, hitting a parked golf cart at the third hole of the third nine.
Pressing on, police said, the SUV hit an oak tree, then went out of control before "bouncing off" a pine tree and spinning in a circle. The vehicle stopped there, police said, completely in flames.
"It was burnt to an ashen shell," said Leonard Manns, who works in the pro shop and didn't see the crash but was told of it later. "It was freaky, that's for sure."
He said the fire left only a charred spot on the course.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Golf was mixed with traces of NASCAR yesterday when a speeding SUV carrying five golfers zipped across fairways, slammed into a pine tree, spun around and burst into flames.
Dave Higinbotham watched the scene in horror from the third hole of the third nine of Delmont's Cloverleaf Golf Course. The SUV, he said, rushed up a hill, heading straight toward him at 50 mph.
It missed him, instead grazing his golf cart before zooming up the hill toward the tee of the fourth hole.
"I yelled as loud as I could yell, 'Fore, fore, fore!' " said Mr. Higinbotham, of Greensburg, who looked on as the SUV struck an oak tree and careened into a pine tree. It was the final stop on a crash course that sent five people to hospitals and golfers on a year-end outing scrambling for cover.
Mr. Higinbotham, 66, ran up the hill toward the fiery SUV, dialing 911 on his cell phone and shouting for his playing partners to help.
"I said, 'We've got to get these people out of the car,' " he said. Fellow golfers quickly joined Mr. Higinbotham, some in golf carts. "We pulled them out as gently as we could, then laid them on the ground."
Driver Paul Lazear, 82, and his four passengers, all from Wilkinsburg, were safe, but 2-foot flames still shot from SUV, Mr. Higinbotham said.
"I said, 'We've got to push this car out of the way, and away from these people,' " he said.
He and six other golfers started pushing, sliding the burning vehicle about 30 feet before emergency crews arrived and could treat the injured.
Mr. Lazear and passenger Carol Lazear, 72, were taken with minor injuries to Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital at Jeannette, state police said. Two other passengers, Ruth Daniels, 83, and Flora Lee Katz, 74, suffered moderate injuries and were treated at Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg. A fifth passenger, Bertram Katz, 80, was flown to UPMC Presbyterian in Oakland. State police said all of the injured were expected to recover.
Mr. Lazear told police that he'd "lost his brakes and couldn't stop." His collision course started in the course's north parking lot, where police said he hit a parked car and kept driving, first across some large stones and then onto the golf course. He picked up speed as he headed west across the first hole of the first nine's tee box, and continued, just missing the clubhouse as he veered onto a path and back into the parking lot.
Mr. Lazear didn't stop there. He told police he couldn't.
They said he crossed Cloverleaf Drive through the south parking lot and again onto the golf course, gaining speed. Heading north, the SUV jumped a ditch and kept going, hitting a parked golf cart at the third hole of the third nine.
Pressing on, police said, the SUV hit an oak tree, then went out of control before "bouncing off" a pine tree and spinning in a circle. The vehicle stopped there, police said, completely in flames.
"It was burnt to an ashen shell," said Leonard Manns, who works in the pro shop and didn't see the crash but was told of it later. "It was freaky, that's for sure."
He said the fire left only a charred spot on the course.
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