While not all of us have been involved in a car accident, we are all aware that there are life-threatening factors involved in such events. Limbs can get trapped, body parts can get crushed, and in some cases, one may even fly out their car. However, some are lucky to walk away from a collision with nothing more than a scratch or a bruise.
Although injuries related to car accidents have decreased over the years, there are still millions of injuries and disabilities result from traffic accidents on an annual basis. According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel, without the proper course of action, collision-related injuries may become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030.
But, for one lucky man who was trapped under a vehicle following a car accident, he was saved by a 29-year-old bodybuilder, Ryan Belcher.
The accident happened on Thursday; Ryan describes hearing a loud crash. That’s when he spotted a black Jeep Cherokee flipped upside-down.
Approaching the scene, he heard cries for help coming from underneath the vehicle. That’s when he spotted the man with his lower body trapped inside, and his upper body smashed against a bent speed limit sign.
“When I first approached the vehicle, there was a good four men there, and they were all trying to move this vehicle and I seen it wasn’t happening and I figured what a better time now to use what I know I can actually do,” Ryan said.
Ryan weighs 350 pounds, can squat 950 pounds and deadlift 800 pounds; he knew he could use his strength to save the man’s life.
“I just jumped right in,” he explains, “I seen a window that was broken out of the back of the vehicle, and I knew if I can swing the vehicle in a certain direction, I can free him from that pole. So, I just stuck my arms in, and I don’t know, I just grabbed it, lifted it up, and started pushing. And all I heard was, ‘That’s enough, we can get him.’”
When asked in a Fox News interview why he did what he did, the rescuer responds, “I didn’t have to do it sir, but I had to do it. That’s how I feel. It just had to be done.”
As a father of two, Ryan knew how important it would be to ensure the trapped man got back home to his loved ones. But little did he know that the man had five children waiting for him at home. Nevertheless, empathy was strong on Ryan’s part.
“This could have been anybody. It could have been me, and just getting home to my children after that is all I thought about. I’d hope if it were me in there, somebody would help me the way I did them.”
While both the man Ryan saved and another woman who suffered from serious injuries from the collision, no fatalities have been reported. Both are currently recovering.
In fact, following the accident, Ryan met up with the man he saved and his family this past Sunday.
“If I could describe it in one word, it would be ‘humbled.'”
Meet hero Ryan Belcher in the below video. What an amazing man!
