A Skyline Chili worker who used his own pocket knife to puncture a deployed airbag and free a driver trapped after her car crashed into the restaurant is being formally honored by Green Township officials. Brandon Estes stepped in after a customer suffered a medical emergency, flipped her vehicle, and struck the Skyline Chili building along Bridgetown Road in August.
According to WKRC, Estes was checking on customers and staff at the west side location when the crash happened. The driver had experienced a medical emergency while driving on Bridgetown Road, causing her car to flip before it slammed into the restaurant. Estes reportedly used a pocket knife to puncture her vehicle's inflated airbag, allowing her to finally catch her breath, and medics arrived within minutes.
The report notes that the airbag had made it difficult for the driver to breathe as she sat trapped inside the wrecked vehicle. Emergency rescue guidelines describe why that kind of intervention can matter: deployed airbags generate sodium hydroxide chemical residue and intense pressure that can restrict an incapacitated occupant's breathing inside a confined cabin if the bag is not vented, according to guidance from the NAEMT.
Trustees Set to Recognize More Than One Rescuer
Estes will be recognized at Monday's Green Township trustee meeting for helping the driver in distress and keeping a cool head during the incident, per the same account from WKRC. But the township's own meeting agenda shows Estes wasn't the only bystander being honored that day. The Green Township Board of Trustees agenda lists Fire & EMS Chief Chris Godfrey as set to also recognize members of the Fessel family for their assistance during the traffic accident.
Godfrey himself brings decades of institutional knowledge to the recognition. He was promoted to lead Green Township Fire & EMS in February 2025, according to township meeting records, after joining the department in 1995 and starting even earlier as a Fire Explorer in 1993.
A Busy Department on a Busy Corridor
Green Township Fire & EMS operates four stations around the clock, keeping 18 to 24 personnel on duty at all times and responding to more than 8,400 emergency calls each year, according to the department. That capacity helps explain how medics reached the crashed vehicle within minutes of the impact.
The crash unfolded at the Skyline Chili location at 5630 Bridgetown Road, a stretch of commercial corridor on Cincinnati's west side. Green Township itself is the most populous township in Hamilton County and the second-most populous in Ohio, with a population of 60,068 spread across 27.9 square miles, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Part of a Broader Pattern on Local Roads
The crash fits into a larger regional picture of roadway danger. Hamilton County recorded 28,911 total traffic crashes in 2025, a 1.7% increase from the year before, even as traffic fatalities in the county fell 14.3% to 54, per crash data compiled by ThatCarHitMe from Ohio Department of Transportation records.
Vehicle-into-building crashes like the one on Bridgetown Road are also more common nationally than many drivers realize. They occur roughly 60 times a day across the United States, causing about 4,000 injuries and 500 deaths annually, according to the Storefront Safety Council, with medical emergencies and pedal misapplications cited as primary causes.
Bridgetown Road has drawn additional public-safety attention recently. Earlier this month, Green Township police responded to another high-profile emergency along the same corridor after a mother breached a daycare in violation of a protection order. The Skyline Chili chain itself has also been in the news lately, having recently handed its CEO reins to Carl Stealey following a multi-year regional expansion push.
