This photo provided by
Kim Moore shows firefighters working to extricate a 50-year-old man from
his crashed car on Mingus Mountain in Yavapai County, Arizona on
Friday, May 27, 2016. (Kim Moore via AP)
JEROME, Ariz.—A man trapped in his crashed vehicle on a
central Arizona mountain for three days might never have been rescued if
not for a couple taking sightseeing photos, authorities said.
Jerome Police Chief Allen Muma says the 50-year-old man’s purple SUV
was spotted Friday afternoon by a couple who had pulled over on a road
on Mingus Mountain, about 10 miles south of Jerome.
“The big thing I want to get across is how lucky this gentleman was,”
Muma said Saturday. “These people happened to stop and take a picture.
Had they not, he’d be dead. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
The couple was on Allen Springs Road, which Muma described as an
unimproved, dirt Forest Service road and the surrounding terrain has
brush between 6 and 10 feet tall. As they started to snap photos, the
woman noticed pieces of the vehicle through the mesquite trees and
bushes. They went closer and saw a man inside.
The pair immediately called 911.
It took multiple fire and police agencies more than an hour to get to
the man and extricate him using a Jaws of Life apparatus, according to
Muma. The roof of the Toyota FJ Cruiser had caved in.
The man, who lives in Cornville, was conscious enough to give
paramedics information. That is when emergency responders deduced his
car had rolled down the mountain three days earlier.
The couple who found the man happened to have a chainsaw, which
rescuers used to help clear the terrain from the car for a waiting
helicopter.
He was airlifted in critical condition to Verde Valley Medical Center and then later transported to a hospital in Flagstaff.
The man was listed in stable condition Saturday, according to Yavapai
County Sheriff’s spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn. The sheriff’s office is
investigating how the vehicle ended up crashing.
Muma did not know if the man had any water or food nearby. A deputy found his cellphone outside of the car.
The man, whose identity has not been released, has no family so nobody reported him missing.
“If you’re going to travel off-road somewhere or even a well-traveled road … let somebody know,” Muma said.
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