“100%, absolutely very heroic act”: Grandmother’s last heroic sacrifice saves grandson

Libby Cathey of WBNS 10TV says a quiet stretch of Pickaway County roadway turned into a scene deputies won’t forget, and a family will never be the same after what investigators describe as a split-second decision that saved a child.

Police are calling 52-year-old Laura Hammond a hero after a crash on Walnut Creek Pike near Circleville, where witnesses and deputies say Hammond saw a car coming toward her young grandson and acted immediately – picking him up and throwing him out of harm’s way.

Captain John Strawser with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office didn’t hesitate when Cathey asked for the simplest description of what happened. He called it “100%, absolutely” a heroic act, saying Hammond “risked her life,” and that decision “ended up taking her life” to save her grandson.

It’s the kind of story that sounds almost unreal until you hear the details: a car leaving the roadway, cutting through yards, and a grandmother moving faster than fear.

The Crash That Cut Through Two Yards

Cathey reports the crash happened on a Friday morning around 10 a.m. Deputies responded to a call describing a vehicle that had left the roadway and plowed through residential property.

According to the investigation Cathey summarizes, 60-year-old John Hill of Circleville was driving south in a Nissan when the car left the road and traveled through two yards. The vehicle then struck a parked SUV sitting in a driveway.

That’s where Hammond was – outside, in the yard, in the wrong place at the worst moment.

Captain Strawser told Cathey he was first on scene, and what he walked into “ranks up there” among the worst things he’s seen. He described the crash as “very gruesome,” the kind of call that stays with responders even after they go home.

Cathey notes the chaotic aftermath: Hill injured but conscious, and another person at the scene bloodied and yelling, as deputies tried to understand who was hurt and how badly.

“She Picked Up The Child And Tossed Him”

In the middle of the wreckage, Cathey says the focus turned to one detail that now defines this tragedy: Hammond’s grandson had been playing in the driveway, raking gravel, when the car came off the road.

Witnesses told deputies that Hammond saw what was happening and reacted instantly.

Strawser explained it plainly in Cathey’s report: Hammond “picked up the child and tossed him,” and while that caused the boy some injuries, “at the end of the day it saved his life.”

Then comes the hardest part to read, because it’s so blunt and so final: Strawser said that when Hammond threw her grandson out of the way, she “very unfortunately… took the brunt” of the vehicle.

Deputies say Hammond was pinned between the Nissan and the parked SUV, with her legs trapped. She was rushed to the hospital, but Cathey reports she died a short time later.

Her grandson survived and was treated for minor injuries, which is the only sliver of relief in a story that otherwise lands like a weight.

The Driver’s Statement And The Investigation

Cathey reports the investigation is still in its early stages, but authorities have started to outline what may have happened in the moments before the crash.

According to a police report described in the 10TV story, Hill told officers his phone was ringing, and he looked down. That’s the kind of admission that makes your stomach drop because it’s so ordinary. It’s not a high-speed chase or a dramatic mechanical failure – it’s a familiar distraction that can turn deadly in seconds.

Cathey also says investigators obtained a search warrant for Hill’s blood to determine whether alcohol or drugs were a factor. That part matters because it’s how these cases are built: facts first, conclusions later.

Hill was treated for injuries described as non-life-threatening, and the young boy was treated as well. Meanwhile, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office are still working the case and gathering evidence.

What hasn’t changed – no matter what the investigation eventually concludes – is the sequence Strawser and witnesses described: a child in danger, and Hammond moving him out of it.

Why Deputies Keep Using The Word “Hero”

It’s easy to throw the word “hero” around until you see what it’s attached to here.

Cathey’s reporting makes the point without preaching: Hammond didn’t have time to think through options or weigh risks. She saw a car entering a yard where her grandson was standing, and she reacted like a human shield.

Strawser’s quote is the one that sticks: “100%, absolutely” a heroic act.

There’s a particular kind of heartbreak in stories like this, because the sacrifice is so pure and so immediate that it makes everything else – investigations, traffic codes, roadway debates – feel almost small for a moment.

And yet the aftermath is real life again: a family now grieving a wife, a mother, a grandmother.

Cathey notes Hammond leaves behind a husband, three children, and two grandsons. Those aren’t just numbers for the anchor to read – those are the faces who now have to live with an empty chair at the table.

A Road Neighbors Say Needs To Change

Cathey says she also spoke with neighbors off camera who echoed what deputies were saying: they called Hammond a hero, and they hope this tragedy becomes a wake-up call for safer driving on that road.

That’s a familiar pattern in rural and semi-rural places – roads that feel routine until something violent happens, then everyone realizes how little margin there is when a vehicle leaves the pavement.

If Hill truly looked down at the wrong second, it’s a reminder that you don’t need reckless intent to cause catastrophic harm. You only need a brief lapse, a ringing phone, and a roadway with no forgiveness built into it.

This case, Cathey says, is still unfolding. But the part that won’t change is what Strawser told her so directly: Laura Hammond made a choice in an instant, and that choice is the reason her grandson is still alive.