‘He wouldn’t be able to call 911’: iPhone helps save man’s life after trapped inside crashed truck
Marion County Fire Rescue is crediting an iPhone for helping save a man’s life after his pickup truck crashed through a fence. Officials say the driver was trapped and the fence impaled him.
By Senait Gebregiorgis
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MARION COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — Marion County Fire Rescue is crediting an iPhone for helping save a man’s life after his pickup truck crashed through a fence. Officials say the driver was trapped and the fence impaled him.
The man was taken to the hospital as a trauma alert after crews were notified by an alert sent by his iPhone.
“We had to cut the roof off the vehicle and carefully pull him out,” said James Lucas, Marion County Fire Rescue’s public information officer. “The driver’s iPhone alerted our 911 communications center of a serious traffic crash.
Apple has a feature on iPhones and Apple Watches called Emergency SOS. The devices use sensors to detect crashes and then call 911.
“There was an open line to 911, and the call taker was able to ascertain that the vehicle was involved in a rollover, there was still a patient inside, and the patient was able to articulate the nature of his injuries,” Lucas said.
The iPhone also sent a geo-location to fire rescue crews after the crash happened around 5:30 a.m. Monday. It took about 30 minutes for first responders to safely get the driver out of his truck.
“He was pinned and impaled by a fence post, so he probably wouldn’t be able to call 911 himself,” Lucas said.
According to Apple Support, “with iPhone 14 or later (all models), you can use Emergency SOS via satellite to text for emergency services when you’re off the grid with no cellular and wi-fi coverage.”
It can detect accidents like front-impact or rear-end collisions.
“If you’re unable to respond, your device automatically calls emergency services after a 30-second countdown,” according to Apple Support.
“There are safety features in cell phones now that we did not have 10 years ago, and right now this helps our emergency response,” Lucas said. “We do see this quite often, even in minor fender benders.”
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the cause of the crash.
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