Woman, dog escape car seconds before tree crushes it

WENHAM, Mass. (WHDH) -- A woman and her dog made a great escape just seconds before a tree crashed down on her car on Tuesday.

Brittney Barry had just gotten into her vehicle when she said “all of a sudden I heard, ‘crack, crack, crack -- smash,’ and then I don’t even really know how I got out of the car.”

Barry described how she was able dodge death when a large tree crushed her car.

“It hit the front and then decided to go down. And then I think I was out by then,” Barry said.

The 21-year-old Gloucester resident had just left her job for the day on Main Street in Wenham. She had jumped into her aunt’s Saturn with her dog when she heard a snapping sound. She somehow managed to grab the dog and get out with only inches to spare.

“[The dog] usually sits in the back seat and he jumped and he was underneath -- his face underneath the seat, so I had to pull him out and he just took off running,” Barry said.

Neighbors could only look on in amazement.

“When I got out of the car and I was finally calmed down, I looked, and everyone was like, ‘Yeah, you’re lucky to be alive right now,’ which I am,” Barry said.

Barry shimmied her way out of the wreckage without a scratch -- and so did her dog.

“The passenger’s side is awful. If I was in the passenger’s side, I’d be dead. But there was just enough arc for me to get out without a bruise,” Barry said.

Barry’s vehicle is totaled, and her friends say they plan to have a “celebration of life” party after the close call.