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Burghill family to receive van

Austintown dealership to buy vehicle at auction

AUSTINTOWN — The owner of a small used car dealership plans to give a van, some car seats and some gift cards to the Burghill family that lost its only vehicle after it crashed into Girard Lake on Tuesday.

Shane Ferguson, owner of Shane’s Auto Sales, 2606 Mahoning Ave., said Thursday he intends to purchase a van this week at an auto auction and present the vehicle to the family of Michelle Campo and Andrew McGregor sometime Saturday afternoon.

The family lost its 1999 Chevrolet Astro Van Tuesday morning when it slid out of control while traveling on Niles Vienna Road, down a hill and into Girard Lake. Campo was driving and her five children were inside.

Five people — three men and two women — traveling on the same route stopped their vehicles and worked together to pull Campo and her children out of the van before police and paramedics arrived. Afterwards, Campo and her husband said the van, which was totaled in the accident, was the only vehicle they had for McGregor to get back and forth to work. They saved for three years to purchase the vehicle.

“After hearing about their story, I was corresponding by Facebook with Michael Montler, one of the rescuers, and, since I own a car dealership, decided to provide them with a vehicle,” Ferguson said. “I was thinking about giving them a car, but after speaking with the mother, we decided it would be better for them to have a van.”

It is because he does not have a van available in the dealership’s fleet that Ferguson said he plans to purchase one. This is not the first time that Ferguson provided replacement equipment for victims of accidents or crime.

“I heard about a man whose power chair was stolen out of his storage unit and several friends and I were able to get him another one,” Ferguson said. “I’ve had some good fortune in my life and want to give back.”

Campo, who met with Montler Wednesday evening at the couple’s home, said her family was so blessed and grateful that these strangers came together to save the lives of her and her children. Neither the children nor Campo were injured as a result of the crash.

“It could have been so much worse,” she said.

Montler, one of the five people who helped the family, said he wanted to meet with them once again because he did not want the images of the soaking wet children to be his last memory of them.

“I was at the right place at the right time,” Montler said. “I’m no hero.”

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