Teenager pinned under vehicle uses jack to free himself
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- An 18-year-old former wrestler whose leg became pinned under his overturned Jeep managed to reach a car jack, ratchet up the vehicle and free himself.
As college freshman Clancy Wright lay trapped last week, he said he thought of the climber whose arm had been pinned by a boulder last spring.
"I didn't want to cut my leg off like the guy who cut off his arm," Wright said.
Wright was driving alone October 2 at a popular off-road area near Minersville, about 200 miles south of Salt Lake City, when his Jeep rolled, pinning his left leg under a corner of the windshield and part of a roll bar.
He was able to reach a jack in the vehicle.
He said he tried three times to find the right placement for it under the roll bar. Wright, who wrestled as a heavyweight last year in high school and took fifth place in his division, eventually was able to lift the Jeep.
"As the pressure released, I could feel the blood rush out of the leg," he told The Salt Lake Tribune in Thursday's editions.
The skin, muscle and tissue in his left calf, from the knee to the ankle, was torn from his leg bones, which were completely exposed but not broken, he said.
Wright said he wrapped the leg with his T-shirt, and a passing rider found him shortly afterward and summoned an ambulance. He underwent surgery and was sent home the next day.
"They told me to go home, lay on the couch, put your foot up and pray," Wright said.
Wright said he has feeling in his leg and can wiggle his toes.
"Maybe this will slow him down a little," his father, Chris Wright, said.
Climber Aron Ralston of Aspen, Colorado, was hiking alone in southeastern Utah on April 26 when his right arm became pinned beneath an 800-pound boulder. He freed himself on the fifth day by snapping his bones and using a knife to cut through his arm.
Wow, someone certainly was watching over him!
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- An 18-year-old former wrestler whose leg became pinned under his overturned Jeep managed to reach a car jack, ratchet up the vehicle and free himself.
As college freshman Clancy Wright lay trapped last week, he said he thought of the climber whose arm had been pinned by a boulder last spring.
"I didn't want to cut my leg off like the guy who cut off his arm," Wright said.
Wright was driving alone October 2 at a popular off-road area near Minersville, about 200 miles south of Salt Lake City, when his Jeep rolled, pinning his left leg under a corner of the windshield and part of a roll bar.
He was able to reach a jack in the vehicle.
He said he tried three times to find the right placement for it under the roll bar. Wright, who wrestled as a heavyweight last year in high school and took fifth place in his division, eventually was able to lift the Jeep.
"As the pressure released, I could feel the blood rush out of the leg," he told The Salt Lake Tribune in Thursday's editions.
The skin, muscle and tissue in his left calf, from the knee to the ankle, was torn from his leg bones, which were completely exposed but not broken, he said.
Wright said he wrapped the leg with his T-shirt, and a passing rider found him shortly afterward and summoned an ambulance. He underwent surgery and was sent home the next day.
"They told me to go home, lay on the couch, put your foot up and pray," Wright said.
Wright said he has feeling in his leg and can wiggle his toes.
"Maybe this will slow him down a little," his father, Chris Wright, said.
Climber Aron Ralston of Aspen, Colorado, was hiking alone in southeastern Utah on April 26 when his right arm became pinned beneath an 800-pound boulder. He freed himself on the fifth day by snapping his bones and using a knife to cut through his arm.
Wow, someone certainly was watching over him!
