CAIRO — A Tallahassee resident wants people to know about the graciousness of two Cairo locals, including mayor Booker Gainor, following their assistance in an unfortunate collision last week. 

Bill Smith, 66, was rescued by Gainor and his cousin Jeremy Hampton on Nov. 18 after crashing his vehicle in Gadsden County, Fla. 

“It just renewed my faith in mankind,” Smith said. “That’s why I decided I needed to let the world know about it.”

The retired lineman was driving south along Concord Bainbridge Road at approximately 6:20 p.m. when he suddenly blacked out, veering into a nearby swamp.

Smith, who suffers from dizzy spells related to dehydration, said he believes the blackout was due to a lack of water. 

Gainor, who was on his way to visit family in Tallahassee with Hampton, decided to pull over after witnessing the crash. 

“My only thinking was to get him out of the vehicle as quickly as possible,” said Gainor, who said he initially thought the vehicle was on fire. “It took some time because he had blacked out.”

The mayor, who said he could smell fumes from a gas tank rupture from the road, saw steam rising from the swamp water and mistakenly thought the vehicle was smoking and would soon erupt in flames. 

“I just really believe with all of the gas, the only way to really get him out of the vehicle was when I noticed he had a wedding ring,” Gainor said. “So I said, ‘are you married?’ And he said yeah. So I asked, ‘what’s your wife’s name?’ just trying to get him to answer questions like that to get him assimilated. He told me her name and I said, ‘hey, we’ve got to get you to her.'”

Hampton and Gainor, still dressed from a speaking engagement earlier in the day, carried Smith through the woods to the side of the road.

Smith estimated his car was in 6 to 10 inches of water and mud when the well-dressed pair dragged him to safety.

Smith, still disoriented from the experience, was bleeding badly from his right hand.

“I was covered in blood,” Smith said. “The whole of the inside of the truck was covered in blood.”

Gainor then fashioned a compression bandage out of his shirt to staunch the bleeding from Smith’s hand.

“Booker took his shirt off, and I’m talking about a fine dress shirt,” Smith said. “He didn’t have no quims or qualms or what. He folded it up and wrapped it and applied pressure to stop the bleeding.”

Smith’s wife Carolyn was contacted once he was pulled to safety. The two men remained with Smith for nearly an hour as they waited for first responders to arrive.

“He said, ‘I see you’re married, we’ve got to contact your wife,'” Smith said. “I mean, just doing everything perfect.”

Smith’s wife was consoled by Gainor and Hampton as he was loaded into an ambulance.

Smith suffered a puncture wound in his right hand, his only injury from the crash. The vehicle, a 2006 Ford F150, was totaled. 

Gainor said the accident could have been made worse as he tried to wedge Smith’s door open with a tree in the way.

“The whole time I was shaking the tree trying to pry the door open,” Gainor said. “I came to find out that just above our heads was a chainsaw. So the whole time I was shaking the tree a chainsaw was on two of the smallest limbs you could think of.”

Monday evening, Smith regaled his story to the Cairo City Council, where Gainor presides. Hampton sat in attendance.

“I’ve just never seen two people act as compassionate and professionally as these two did,” Smith said. “It’s a thing you don’t see these days. That’s why I thought it was my responsibility to let some people know just how much I appreciate what they did.”