Spalding County

‘Got everybody out:’ 12-year-old metro Atlanta girl rescued 5-year-old sister, others after crash

GRIFFIN, Ga. — An emergency air medical crew is praising a 12-year-old girl for her calmness and heroic actions that saved lives when she was involved in a crash last month.

Sage Hopper was in a car with three other kids and her friend’s mom near Zebulon, Ga. on Oct. 16 when they were T-boned.

The car was smashed right where her 5-year-old sister Elaine was sitting.

“I had to sit there for a minute and think about what happened and then I got out and got everybody out,” Sage Hopper told Channel 2′s Bryan Mims.

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She was able to get all of the kids out of the car, including her friend, her brother and her sister. The only person Sage couldn’t out of the car was her friend’s mom.

“I couldn’t get her out. Her door wouldn’t open. I had gotten all the kids out and sat in the ditch with them,” Sage said.

Elaine had to be flown to Arthur M. Blank Children’s Hospital with minor injuries and was released later the same day.

Sasha White was Elaine’s flight nurse and is now recognizing her older sister for her bravery.

“It’s very remarkable. She has that instinct in her. It’s that instinct in her that I told her you either have or you don’t. You innately have it; she has what it takes,” White said.

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Throughout the whole process, Sage stayed on the phone with her mom.

“We were really amazed. I cry every time I talk about it. We’re really proud of her,” Megan Hooper said.

Even before the crash, Sage said that she wanted to be a flight nurse.

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