This Week at Vassar in 1982

The Vassar women’s volleyball team was returning from a match on Monday, Sept. 20 when they came upon a one-vehicle accident on the Taconic Parkway. The driver, Poughkeepsie resident and Culinary Institute of America student Karen Morris, had lost control of her car and smashed into a tree, sustaining a concussion and a broken clavicle.

When the girls, one of whom was a registered Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Dana Thomas discovered Morris, she was unconscious in front seat. Thomas was able to verify that Morris had a steady pulse. Some of the team left to call for help, and two Vassar students remained on the scene.

Morris waited 65 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, and was rushed to the nearest hospital. Police reports of the incident that were filed later revealed that four empty beer bottles were found on the floor of her car.

“The people from Vassar were true professionals and that girl might owe them her life,” said the state trooper who had been called to the scene. “It’s scary to think that other people might not have stopped and figured someone else would take care of it.”