MAN THANKFUL HE GOT OUT ALIVE AFTER BEING RESCUED FROM BURNING PICKUP

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Lester DePriest says he's lucky just to be alive.

A little over two years ago, DePriest was severely injured in a car accident on Highway OO, about seven miles south of Farmington. He was pulled out of the wreckage of his burning pickup truck by three motorists, who came upon the scene.

"These three men saved my life," DePriest recalled Friday.

The 61-year-old Cape Girardeau man said he intends to recognize his three rescuers Ben Cade and Alfred Coffey of Farmington, and Scott Cosma, of Festus, formerly of Fredericktown at a service this morning at Lynwood Baptist Church.

Cade and Coffey visited with DePriest on several occasions following the accident. But today's ceremony will mark the first time that Cosma has seen DePriest since the accident.

"I wanted to recognize them in some way. They did a heroic deed," said DePriest, who suffered extensive injuries and still has difficulty walking.

The accident occurred around 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 23, 1988, the day before Thanksgiving.

DePriest had been involved in the wholesale food business for years.

At the time of the accident, DePriest was working for his son's wholesale food business in Farmington, which involved the sale of peanuts, potato chips and candy.

DePriest recalled he was driving a company pickup truck. It was already dark outside at that time of year.

"I was traveling on the OO highway and then all of a sudden these two headlights appeared up a small hill in front of me," said DePriest.

"I hollered and screamed, `Lord, help me.' I knew I was a goner."

He said he had no time to react before a northbound car in the wrong lane collided head-on with DePriest's pickup truck.

The driver of the car, Chris Wright, 18, of Fredericktown, was killed instantly.

Authorities said Wright's Camaro was traveling at 85 to 100 miles an hour at the time of the collision.

DePriest said authorities don't know why the vehicle was traveling that fast. No drugs or alcohol were involved in the accident, according to DePriest.

In the accident, the pickup truck's motor was pushed up underneath DePriest's truck seat. "It pinned my legs underneath the seat and then (the truck) caught fire."

Cade was driving south on Highway OO and came upon the accident just after it occurred.

"Passersby were screaming that somebody was in there. I couldn't get the door open," remembered Cade.

He said he instructed a man at the scene to get emergency help.

By that time, Coffey had arrived on the scene. Cade and Coffey then proceeded to try to pull DePriest free of the wreckage.

"I was in shock so bad I didn't know what was going on," said DePriest.

Cade said DePriest suggested that they pull him out through the driver's side door window. "He (DePriest) said it's getting pretty hot in here," recalled Cade.

"These two men were working real hard, they were pulling on my arms trying to get me out," DePriest said.

Cade said he and Coffey managed to pull DePriest part way out the window. But his legs remained pinned in the wreckage.

Cade said he and Coffey hollered for additional help.

Scott Cosma was standing along side the road, watching the rescue effort. He had been traveling south to his home at Fredericktown at the time of the accident.

"They said help us and I went over and we pulled him out," the 26-year-old Cosma recalled Friday.

"We had to reach in to get him by the seat of the pants to pull him out," said Cade.

"They all fell down and I fell down right on top of them," said DePriest.

"Then we all got up and pulled him (DePriest) across the road and put a blanket on him," remembered Cade.

"Both of his legs were on fire when we pulled him out," said Cade.

Cade said that just after they pulled DePriest to safety there was an explosion caused by the fire.

Cade said he believes DePriest would have died in the fire if he had not been pulled to safety. "I think maybe in a couple minutes he would have been dead."

Cosma said he could see the fire a good distance before he reached the scene of the accident. "I could see the fire from approximately half a mile away. I thought somebody was burning leaves."

He added, "I was frightened at first, too. There were other people standing there and they were telling us to stay away from it."

The motor and the driver's side of the pickup truck were on fire, Cosma recalled.

"It was dark. He (DePriest) was screaming, too. He was screaming, `Help me, I'm burning, I'm burning.'"

Cade remembered, "It (the pickup) was pretty well engulfed in flames; flames were probably within six inches of our faces when we pulled him out."

DePriest suffered numerous broken bones and burns. "My legs got burned really bad. Everything from my waist down was a total disaster.

"My left leg, from the knee down, was all broken up," he said.

"I had third-degree burns over 12 percent of my body."

He was transported to a Farmington hospital. From there, he was transported by helicopter to St. John's hospital in St. Louis, where he spent the next five and a half months.

He said it took two months before he could just sit up in his hospital bed.

"They (the doctors) were going to take my leg off at the knee," recalled DePriest. But his wife, Betty, wouldn't agree to it after doctors told her that refraining from such action would not pose any additional health threat.

Today, DePriest's left leg from the knee down is still paralyzed. "The burns are not completely healed. I still go to see the doctors every six months," said DePriest.

DePriest has a metal rod in his hip. He said he will probably have surgery done sometime next month to take the rod out.

His paralyzed left leg and foot are shorter than the right leg and foot. As a result, DePriest has to wear special shoes.

When he first came home from the hospital, he was in a wheelchair.

He said he spent hours in therapy and for some time had to use crutches.

"I (now) walk with two canes," he added. "I can go 50 feet or so with my canes before I have to sit down."

DePriest said he is in constant pain and has to take pain pills. "I'll never stand up and walk straight again."

But despite his suffering, DePriest said he's thankful to be alive. "It could be a lot worse."

Cade and Cosma don't think of themselves as heroes. "We didn't think about it," said Cade. "We just did what anybody else should have done."

Added Cosma, "I guess we just blocked everything out and focused on getting him out."

Said Cosma, "It's just one of those things that happened. It was just a humane thing to do."

The accident happened only about three miles from Cade's home. "I pass the place every day," said Cade, "and I never drive past it that I don't think about it."