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© St. Petersburg Times, published March 17, 2003
ZEPHYRHILLS -- A 22-year-old woman was injured early Sunday morning when she accidentally drove an all-terrain vehicle through a barbed-wire fence.
Sarah Mason of 37841 Hart Court was riding ATVs with several friends in a dark field along Eiland Boulevard, a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report said.
Shortly after midnight, she ran into a fence and was clotheslined by a strand of barbed wire, which left a cut across her throat, the report said. Mason was thrown from the ATV and landed in a wooded area, the report said.
Her right shoulder was scraped in the fall, and Mason told paramedics she was having difficulty swallowing.
Mason was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, the report said, but her condition was not available Sunday afternoon.
Authorities suspect alcohol may have been involved.
One of Mason's friends smelled of alcohol, the report said, and a sheriff's deputy found a red cooler nearby with open and closed beer bottles on ice.
But Mason's friend told the deputy none of the ATV riders had been drinking.