Teen Rescued By Siri After Getting Trapped Underneath 5,000-Pound Truck

Apple’s Siri came to the rescue of a Tennessee teenager after he found himself trapped underneath his truck.

Sam Ray, 18, was fixing his 1998 Black Dodge Dakota by himself on July 2 when his 5,000-pound truck fell on top of him, reports the Tennessean. With his left hand caught, all Ray could do was bang a tire iron against his vehicle with his right hand in the hopes that someone would hear and come to help.

With no one nearby to hear his cries for help, Ray prayed for a miracle. That was when the teenager heard Siri’s voice from his back pocket. After a few tries, he was able to get Siri to call emergency services for him.

Operator Christina Lee initially thought the call was a prank or an accidental dial, but soon realized that Ray was in trouble when she heard his cries for help. She recalled the phone conversation:

“We get a lot of pocket dials, and I thought it was a pocket dial at first. But then I heard the screams for help.”

She then dispatched assistance to Ray’s home in a suburb of Nashville by locating him with the signal from his cell phone. Though the location was not precise, emergency services pinpointed Ray based on the address he was yelling over the phone. Lee recalled:

“The map got to his street … it got pretty close. But he was yelling his address, and that was the best thing he could have done.”

Ray spoke to the local newspaper, the Tennessean, on Friday:

“This arm was above my head, tangled up. I know it was on the exhaust because it was burnt from here up. I could feel myself slipping. I was starting to accept that I wouldn’t get out.”

His prayers were answered when a volunteer firefighter arrived and propped the truck up with a jack. Ray was airlifted to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center after being trapped under the truck for about 40 minutes. The traumatizing event left Ray seriously injured with several broken ribs, cuts, a bruised kidney, a concussion, and burns on his left arm.

Rick Miller, Vanderbilt’s chief of trauma and surgical care, said the teen was lucky:

“Sometimes these crush injuries can be devastating and can kill you. This story is definitely unique to modern-day technology. I’ve never heard of a story where you can figure out a way to use Siri to call 011 and get yourself rescued.”

He has since recovered and, although he originally wanted a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, is now eternally grateful for Siri:

“I guess I’m stuck with an iPhone for the rest of my life. I owe them that.”

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