A 2-week-old baby slept through a high-speed collision in Silver Springs in which her mother had to be cut from the vehicle on Tuesday afternoon.
Zahara Gibson, of Fallon, was trapped in the mangled wreckage of her Dodge Neon after she drifted into the westbound lane and slammed into the rear axle of a flat-bed pickup on Highway 50 East in front of the Silver Springs Animal Shelter at about 2 p.m.
Shelter Director Ted Bolzle said the noise from the accident was "unbelievably loud."
When he ran to check on Gibson, he recognized her as his neighbor, he said.
She also recognized him and kept asking Bolzle to check on her baby.
Bolzle said that he found the sleeping child still strapped into her car seat and the car seat was still strapped to the vehicle.
"If you didn't believe in child safety seats this would have changed your mind," he said.
Bolzle had to cut the seat belts to remove the car seat and infant.
He said because she was sleeping so soundly, he became worried.
"That's when I panicked," he said chuckling Tuesday evening. "So I tickled her until she woke up and smiled."
Every time the mother would become nervous during the extrication, Bolzle said, he would holler over to her and tell her to concentrate on the baby, which he kept in her line of sight on the side of the road.
Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen said the truck driver was not injured.
Gibson was flown to Renown Regional Medical Center as a precaution and her baby went on the helicopter ride too, he said.
