Clifton man hopes to find woman who helped him after fall

CLIFTON, Colo. (KJCT) - An ordinary evening walk turned out to be anything but ordinary for 65-year-old Terry Ragsdale.

On May 28, Ragsdale said he went for a walk along the west side of 32 Road to clear his head, when he came across loose dirt and gravel. He made it about 50 feet south of the canal, when he fell.

“I hit that and my just legs jumped out from underneath me,” said Ragsdale. “I ended up rolling downhill and I found a rock at the bottom.”

Ragsdale found himself in the bottom of a ditch. That stretch of 32 Road is raised higher than the shoulder area. At the level he was at, Ragsdale said nobody driving past would have seen him.

“I was dazed, it took a little while to kind of get out of the way and I ended up having to crawl on my knees, trying to get out of there,” Ragsdale recalled. “But I got to the top and I was hoping someone would be able to see me and stop.”

But according to Ragsdale, nobody did stop. For ten minutes, he laid on the 32 Road shoulder.

“It was like everybody was in a hurry or something no one was going to stop,” said Ragsdale.

After that ten minute wait though, he said someone did finally stop. A woman, stopped in the middle of 32 Road, walked over to him, helped him up and called 911.

“She took her time and stopped and cared for me, and got me help,” said Ragsdale. “I don’t I don’t know how long I would have been able to stay down at the bottom of the road if I didn’t take the chance to climb out.”

Ragsdale said he hit his head on a rock in the ditch. His face cut open on his forehead and the bridge of his nose. Once paramedics arrived, he said they took care of him, loaded him up and took him to the hospital. He was also given the chance to call his family. They hadn’t heard from him in a couple of hours.

“Usually he’ll ask us. He’ll text us, or he’ll intercom us over the phone like, Hey, could you get me some coffee,” said Katie Ragsdale, Terry’s daughter. “And we just hadn’t heard from him for a while.”

Concerned, she said she realized he might have gone out for a walk in the neighborhood, and she went to find him.

“So, I take the truck, and I pull out to 32 Road,” said Katie. “And I see an ambulance on the side of the road. I’m sitting there thinking ‘oh, well, that’s dad.’”

Then she said she got the phone call from her dad, who told her what happened and he was going to the hospital. In the end, Ragsdale said he didn’t need any stitches, he was only banged up a bit. But on his way to the hospital, his thoughts partially dwelt on the stranger who stopped to help.

“I just didn’t have a chance to really think this lady for stopping,” said Ragsdale. “But you know, she took her time and stopped and cared for me. And got me help.”

Ragsdale said he never learned the woman’s name and has no idea where she came from. He said the only thing he knew was she was in a white car with her friend. His wish is to find out who she is, so he could thank her formally. He said he would like to do something, such as send her a card or flowers.

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