CHILLICOTHE, OH : Bystanders lift van off crash victim until officials arrive on Wednesday, August 30, 2017

A dozen or more bystanders banded together to lift a van off a crash victim Wednesday afternoon.

About 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, dispatchers reported a rollover crash on North Bridge Street near Golden Corral, possibly requiring extraction. When officials arrived on the scene, they discovered several bystanders had lifted the van, which laid on its side, off the victim and stuck a tire underneath to keep it off him.

Debris scattered the roadway as traffic piled up several blocks on either side of the crash.

According to Chillicothe Police Department public information officer Bud Lytle, the crash involved two vehicles, although officials don't yet know the cause of the crash. Two people were taken from the scene to Adena Medical Center, he said, and one was flown to a Columbus hospital with extensive injuries. The other person had serious, but non-life threatening injuries, he said.

The Chillicothe Police Department, Ross County Sheriff's Office, and the Chillicothe Fire Department responded to the crash.

Five men happened to be eating at Golden Corral when they heard the crash happen.

Jesse Clark, one of the bystanders, described hearing a bang, then seeing the van roll over and the driver "hanging out."

All five men, in addition to an off-duty police officer, teamed together to lift the van off him — an act that paramedics say saved his life. As they lifted the van, another bystander who happened to be transporting tires with rims on a trailer shoved one of his tires underneath the van to keep it off the driver.

The only thing on their minds, Clark said, was getting the van off the driver so he could breathe.

"Paramedics said he's going to live so that's all that matters," he said.

Deputy Jeremy Wallace, of the Pickaway County Sheriff's Office, was just passing through when he saw the bystanders lifting a van off someone pinned beneath it. He recalled seeing the man's head bleeding and grabbed his medical kits.

"The guys that grabbed the car, I have no doubt they saved his life," he said.

Source :
Bystanders lift van off crash victim until officials arrive