“Hey, Siri, please save my life.”
A fisherman was almost crushed to death while trapped under a massive boulder — but was miraculously rescued when he managed to get Siri to call 911.
Joe Little, 28, faces an 8-hour facial reconstruction surgery Thursday for the gruesome injuries he suffered in Astoria, Ore. Saturday — but feels lucky to be alive thanks to his Bluetooth headphones allowing him to reach the Apple virtual assistant to raise the alarm, his family told KPTV.
“His face got smashed. He’s almost unrecognizable,” said his mom, Mindy — while adding with amazement, “It’s a miracle that my son is alive.”
Little was fishing alone at the Hammond Marina jetty Saturday morning when a rock suddenly gave way, leaving him in a life-or-death situation, his grandmother, Kelly Simonson, said.
“He said that he felt it start to move and he put his feet down to stop it, but the boulder was huge, and he slipped down and it just went over him,” Kelly Simonson said.
Little realized he was trapped beneath the high tide line and would need help fast or he would drown.
Fortunately, his Bluetooth earbuds were still connected to his phone and he managed to use Siri to call 911 around 7 a.m., his mother, Mindy, said.
Sgt. Dylan McCoy of the Warrenton Police Department said they tracked Little’s location by honking their car horns as a dispatcher asked him on the phone if they were getting closer.
Police then launched a drone, which spotted Little crushed beneath the boulder with only his upper body and feet visible, McCoy said. Fire officials had to be careful working to move the boulder.
“They removed some of the smaller ones and that allowed them to move him from underneath the extremely large boulder which had trapped him,” McCoy said.
Local officials decided the terrain was too dangerous to remove him on foot and called the US Goast Guard. Dramatic footage released by the USCG shows guardsmen descending onto the jetty from a helicopter around 9 a.m. and pulling him back up in a gurney.
Little is now recovering at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital (OHSU) in Portland, where he is being treated for severe facial injuries, including a broken jaw.
