BECAUSE THAT’S JUST WHAT YOU DO

BYSTANDERS PITCH IN TO SAVE MAN

TMC NEWS PHOTOS / BRIAN WOODS

Sheffield Village – Just moments after the Honda Accord rolled into a culvert and trapped a man in the car – many bystanders rushed to his aid.

Captain Greg Davis of the Sheffield Village Fire Department said that the victim’s head was at water level. “The people were holding the car up so it wouldn’t roll back onto its top. That would have allowed water to flow right in on top of the trapped victim. The victim was trapped on the bottom side and the water was rushing in at him. If they hadn’t of done that he might have drowned.” Davis praised the Good Samaritans for getting involved to save the life of a stranger.

Mike Hiltabidel and his wife Rachel were two of the people that got down into the water to help. Rachel held the victims head up to keep it above the water until Firefighters arrived. Firefighter Chad McCallie found away to crawl into the mangled wreckage to get to the victim while other Firefighters used cutting tools to free the man.

Once out the bystanders once again helped out by assisting in getting the victim to the top of the hill to an awaiting cot and Medics. Once they were done they returned to their cars and if an ambulance or fire truck didn’t trap them in, they simply left. They didn’t wait around for a plaque or a metal; they just left knowing they had helped a stranger in need.

The Hiltabidel’s said they do not think of themselves as heroes and didn’t know before today what they would do in a situation like this, they were glad to find out though. “The crash was so violent – I mean we saw it flip over and crash into the water. How could we not help? None of the people down there knew this guy before today, but when someone is in trouble like this, well, it’s just what you do.”