Virginia police officer lifts car to save trapped woman

Sheriffs deputy praised for ‘quick thinking’ and ‘tremendous act’

A woman in Virginia was saved by a sheriff’s deputy who rescued her from underneath an overturned vehicle, following a crash.

Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office said deputy Jon Holt “went into overdrive” after witnessing the flipped car, and the woman’s children cry in fear, on 7 May.

According to officials: “Deputy J Holt took quick action and was able to physically lift the vehicle up enough for the driver to manoeuvre her head out to safety.

“Through sheer will and determination due to fearing the female may succumb to her circumstance in front of her panic-stricken child.”

In footage of the incident, a child says his mother is trapped underneath the flipped vehicle and cannot breath.

Mr Holt, after freeing another child also crying for his mother, tells him. “It’s ok buddy, come here”.

The footage then blacks-out, and the sheriff’s deputy is heard struggling as he forces the car up – freeing the woman.

In an interview with 13 News Now, the sheriff’s deputy said: “At that point, I put my shoulder into the doorframe and braced as best I could and I said, 'All I have to do is just stand up.'”

“That’s what all I was telling myself, and at that point with as much effort as I could, I tried to stand up and stood up enough so she could free herself and was able to start breathing," Mr Holt added.

On Tuesday. the sheriff’s office praised Mr Holt for his “tremendous act”, which was his second in a year, after “saving the lives of two individuals from a burning house on the afternoon of 24 March, 2020”.

The sheriff’s deputy added to 13 News Now that the woman rescued from the overturned car was “doing ok” and will soon be released from hospital.

According to the outlet, Mr Holt is a former member of the Virginia National Guard and a US Army veteran of Iraq.