UPDATED: 8:35 p.m. Monday ? Jacob Wells, a local teen transported to Wichita after a crash at Island Park late Saturday, is in fair condition, according to a hospital spokesperson.
Jacob’s mother ? Amy Wells ? told NewsCow that, though her son was the most seriously injured in the crash, he is expected to recover. He’s undergone surgery to reattach the pinky finger on his left hand, which was severed when Jacob put up his hands as he went through the car’s windshield.
Two other fingers were crushed during the accident.
The dashboard caught his waist and legs and pulled him back into the car, his mother said.
"We’ll know within a couple weeks whether his body will accept and nourish his pinky finger," Amy Wells said. "Otherwise he might lose it."
Jacob Wells also suffered a pin-sized puncture hole in one of his lungs and has an air bubble in his chest cavity that is the likely cause of an irregular heartbeat that developed Monday. He is conscious and talking with friends and family.
His spine, neck and skull appear free from any major damage, his mother said. He did suffer lacerations to the face that required 20 to 30 stitches.
Amy Wells said that the group of friends was visiting others at the playground castle at Island Park. The accident occurred as they pulled away to leave.
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Speed appears to be a contributing factor in a one-vehicle accident that injured four people at Island Park late Saturday, Winfield Police said.
Around 10 p.m., emergency crews arrived at the park to find a vehicle that had struck a tree. The driver remained inside the vehicle and was pinned.
Three others at the scene told police they were passengers in the vehicle. Kate A. Murphy, 16, Winfield, was identified as the driver.
Brittney N. Hopkins, 15, Dallas C. Hart, 16, and Jacob A. Wells, 16, all of Winfield, were identified as passengers in the vehicle.
Murphy was eventually freed from the vehicle and all four subjects were taken to William Newton Hospital. One passenger was later transported to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.
There’s no word yet on the condition of the men, though reports from the scene indicated that none involved had suffered life-threatening injuries.
