Thankfully, a quick response time and helpful neighbor meant this man get’s to wrench another day.
Two Mesa police officers are being hailed as heroes, and rightfully so. According to body cam footage released by MPD earlier today (Aug, 13,2020) Officers Josh Gardner and Nolan Marineau responded and arrived within minutes to a report of a man, later ID’d as Devon Haycock, pinned underneath the car he was wrenching on. Assessing the situation, with no jack readily at hand or even room to safely lift the newer model Honda Civic, they did the impossible and lifted the 2,700 pound car off Hancock.
Check out the amazing bit of footage for yourself below.
According to an exclusive report by 12News, Hancock used a pair of jacks to secure the car while he worked underneath.
You can hear the victim recount what happened,
“I was under their trying to clip in the undercarriage…I must’ve bumped it (the jack stand) or…”
Before the police arrive, a helpful next-door neighbor, hearing the shouts to “call 911”, was already there, trying his best to assist Hancock’s understandably distraught wife and Hancock himself, using every method he knew how to unpin him from underneath the Civic.
The police, realizing that time was of the essence and eye-balling the physics, used their brute strength and dead lifted one corner long enough so they could drag him out. Thankfully, it worked.
After a quick once-over by the cops and arriving medics it looks like the man suffered no injuries, the car landing on him at just the right angle.
At 3:38 in the video, his neighbor tells Hancock that he’s glad he’s A-OK and cavalierly proclaims to the wife to, “Make sure you give him some tonight.”
Priceless.
Takeaways
It looks like one of the jacks used was a temporary spare included with the car. Those jacks are only for lifting to change a tire and should never be used when crawling underneath for more major repairs.
Proper lifting technique, fail-safes, and quality equipment is a must when lifting a car.
If you’re crawling underneath, besides sturdy jack stands underneath the factory designated lift points and engaging the parking brake, additional fail-safes like using the temporary jack as a supplementary safety stand, laying a wheel under the side of the rocker panel you’ll be crawling underneath, and chocking the wheels for extra stability is a good idea that leans towards mandatory.
Use this man’s experience as a cautionary tale, secure your car safely, and then triple check your work before crawling underneath.
Cops should start by asking if the person in need supports antifa and/or blm. If they answer yes to either, just leave them be.