NATCHEZ — Ras Godbold just didn’t see the tree until it was too late.

Driving down Lower Woodville Road, he had just taken his wife, Sarah, to Ruby Tuesday for Mother’s Day, and he was planning to drop her off and get a present for his mother.

He topped a hill, and then — seemingly out of nowhere — a collapsed tree was stretched across the middle of the road.

“By the time I saw it, that was it,” Godbold said.

When the truck hit the tree, the truck lodged under the trunk, collapsing the cab and trapping the Godbolds inside.

From there, the memories get a little hazy, but Godbold said he later found out in the split second before the crash he reached across the truck and shoved his wife down, saving her life.

“I grabbed her by the shirt and I tried to push her down into the truck so she wouldn’t get hurt,” he said. “They told me later that if I hadn’t done that, the way the tree hit the truck it would have taken off her head.”

The accident occurred at approximately 11:30 p.m. The Natchez Fire Department, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and ambulance personnel worked on the scene for approximately an hour to remove Sarah Godbold. Chop’s Wrecker Service was called to the scene to lift the tree off the truck.

Rescuers had to use the Jaws of Life to extract the Godbolds from the vehicle, and Sarah was transported to the hospital by ambulance, but when it was all over they had very few injuries other than cuts and bruises.

“We’re extremely sore,” Godbold said. “I don’t know how we came out of it with nothing broken. Sarah has a tiny fracture in one finger, and that’s it.”

And Godbold said he knows how fortunate he is.

“Every time I look at the pictures of the accident, I don’t know how we are here,” he said.

The accident occurred near the intersection of Lower Woodville with White Apple Road.