Whoever said these things about Artimus is sadly deluded and I am of the opinion they are just trying to hurt Artimus by saying them.
There is no truth to these words.
I have talked with Artimus one on one about that fateful day and have heard him describe it to me more than once.
Artimus told me he had to struggle to get out of the plane. He was sitting near the aisle towards the rear of the plane near where the plane broke in half. Artimus said he had to kick at the fuselage of the plane to bend it or move it around so he could lower himself to the ground through where the fuselage had broken or torn in half.
Artimus was beginning to go into shock himself and was dazed as he struggled out of the plane and to the ground. He said he moved around the downed plane on outside and could hear the cries for help coming from inside the plane and he was not able to get in to help them.
He told me of finding both pilots dead and he thought they had been literally decapitated from the impact of the crash. Artimus feared more would die if he did not try and find help.
(How could anyone sit there outside that broken plane and listen to those cries for help and do nothing? Artimus had only one choice and that was to run for help. If anyone died because he had not tried to get help he would have had to live with that for the rest of his life and running for help was actually a way for him to relieve himself of any future guilt.)
Outside the plane a few other survivors were moving around bleeding and in pain. One of them was Kenny Peden and I don't recall who the third person was, but Artimus told them he was going for help and they could stay put, but as Artimus was leaving the swamp Kenny Peden and another survivor followed Artimus out.
Artimus was indeed scared, but not of an explosion. It would have already happened if it were going to happen, but he was more afraid that more of his beloved brothers and sisters were going to die if someone did not go for help and to bring strong able bodies to pull survivors out and help stabilize them.
Artimus knew that by him staying at the downed plane that he could not help anyone and that his only choice was to go for help as fast as he could since it was rapidly getting darker.
Artimus was not aware that Coast Guard helicopters were enroute to the crash scene as he ran for help.
Earlier in the day a report went out over the media in Baton Rouge area that some escaped convicts were on the loose and for people in the area to be on the lookout for dangerous criminals who had escaped from a jail or prison situation.
Artimus was moving as fast as he could not waiting for those two other survivors following behind him arm in arm supporting and helping each other down the road.
As Artimus approached the Johnny Mote farm, Johnny lived in a trailer with his wife and a small child.
They were well aware of the escaped convicts media report from earlier in the day, and here now they saw a bloodied Artimus Pyle running up their road directly towards them with two others limping behind injured and bleeding.
At the time Artimus had long hair and a long beard and with blood on him he would have appeared scary and dangerous and for all Johnny Mote and his family knew these were the dangerous criminals that had escaped coming to harm them.
As Artimus approached the yard nearing the front door of Johnny Mote's trailer he could hear the wife and child screaming and crying inside as they hid themselves deep inside the trailer in fear for their lives. The man of the house and protector of his family met Artimus outside his front door armed with a shotgun ready to blow Artimus head off.
As Artimus frantically approached an armed man coming outside his trailer leveling his shotgun directly at his face Artimus said he threw himself to the ground and pointed back over his shoulder yelling "Plane crash! Plane Crash!" As Johnny Mote was pulling up on the shotgun he fired off a round that mostly went over Artimus shoulder and head and as Artimus was falling face first into the ground and Johnny was pulling up his gun firing it a couple of pellets hit Artimus in his shoulder as he flung himself down on the ground.
Artimus said he remembered the impact of the shot hitting him as he was falling down forward into the dirt that the shot impact spun him slightly. I remember Artimus showing me how his shoulder, I believe it was his left shoulder, was knocked backwards from the shot as the rest of him went down, meaning Artimus would have landed on his right side due to his left shoulder being knocked backwards from the blast.
Johnny Mote did not know what to believe at the time because of the report of escaped convicts and this bloodied Charles Manson looking wild-eyed man at his feet and two more running up behind him. Johnny could see back behind Artimus that the Coast Guard helicopters were by now circling over the crash site shining their spotlights down into the swamp and crash scene.
(Try and imagine the scene under those helicopters as they circled above shining bright spotlights down into the now dark swamp on a crashed broken plane with survivors crying out for help. It must have been incredibly eerie and surreal down below.)
The call for help went out from the Johnny Mote trailer. It may have been sent before contact with Artimus was made or it may have been sent shortly after contact.
If it were me in that situation, I would have been on the phone to police BEFORE Artimus ever entered the yard and was confronted. So police would have been notified BEFORE contact was made at the front door. But I am not sure exactly when the call went out or who made the first calls for professional help.
It may have also been activated by the fact that other planes in the area were keeping a visual on the Skynyrd plane as it was going down and that the Coast Guard was notified as the plane was going down and were activating search and rescue helicopter teams BEFORE the plane actually crashed.
The NTSB report makes it clear that Houston air traffic control and other planes in the area KNEW the Skynyrd plane was going down and some even circled in changing their flight plan just so they could try and go to the aid of the Skynyrd plane as she was going down. Houston asked some of them to try and get a fix on the plane's location and to try and keep an eye on the plane as she fell from the sky.
So as Artimus was running for help he had no idea at the time that help was already on the way.
He also had no idea that a local hospital had been training just that week for a plane crash scenario, and was already being notified to prepare for the dead and survivors. In fact several hospitals had been notified to expect to receive crash victims and all of this was underway as people rushed to the down plane.
When Johnny Mote realized these bleeding men approaching his home were not the escaped convicts and were indeed plane crash survivors seeking help, Johnny put them in the back of a pickup truck and drove like a madman back towards the plane crash site.
Artimus told me how as Johnny drove he took off through pasture and fields and came upon a small creek which did not even slow him down and that Johnny hit that creek as fast as he could splashing through it furiously
Artimus was returned to the scene by Johnny Mote as other emergency rescue personnel were arriving on the scene.
Artimus remained conscious long enough to tell police and emergency rescue personnel the plane crash was in there as he pointed to the location one last time knowing he did all he could to bring help back to his loved ones in his band.
Artimus had completed his mission once he showed police and rescue personnel the location of the plane crash.
I recall Artimus telling me he told the police and others if you could throw a rock as far as you could, and do it like three times, that is how far back into the woods the plane is. And shortly after this Artimus went deeper into shock and began drifting in and out of consciousness as he was removed from the crash site and rushed to a local hospital.
And Artimus certainly was not foraging through some refrigerator after the plane crash.
None of this crap makes any sense and I don't believe any of it, and it appears to be said just to hurt Artimus long after the facts in this crash have already been established. And whoever said these things needs their ass kicked, but that is just my opinion of this BS.