by justin strawser
COAL TOWNSHIP - Life Flight was called to transport a Shamokin man to Geisinger Medical Center Sunday night when he fell on the Glen Burn Bank.
Joseph Spagnoll, 34, of 817 N. Sixth St., was traveling down the hill at approximately 7:30 p.m. when he fell over "like he fainted," said his girlfriend, Maria Hill, 28, who was watching the scene from below on Dewart Street.
She said Spagnoll, who she's been dating for three months, was up on the hill in the first place because his son, Austin, 14, and her daughters, Brianna Regester, 11, and Haley Mummey, 8, had traveled up first.
Her children's stories of why they were up there in the first place differ. One said they went up to retrieve their dog. Another said they wanted to see what "the whole of Shamokin looked like," she said.
She watched him walking halfway down when he fell and "rolled 20 times," she said.
Hill said her boyfriend wasn't feeling well all day and has a history of medical problems stemming from an accident several years ago when Life Flight was called for him then.
Hill explained she heard them saying he was conscious and that he was unable to feel his legs.
"What an Easter," she said, tearing up.
Coal Township Assistant Fire Chief Mike Timco said there was no anchor point to rope toward Spagnoll, who was laying 40 feet up from the ground, so the rescue personnel slid him down on a backboard.
He was transported by AREA Services to Shamokin Area Community Hospital where Life Flight was waiting to take him to Geisinger in Danville.
Coal Township Police Department were assisted by Shamokin Police Department, Shamokin Rescue 62, Shamokin Rescue 192 and Shamokin Rescue 194.