It isnât every day that you look out the window and see a North Memorial helicopter land on your street. Earlier Wednesday afternoon I had just walked in the door when I heard sirens, and then another and then another. We peaked out the window after hearing the third or fourth only to see a police car followed by a tow truck, then two more ambulances and then a Hennepin Country boat on the back of a trailer. Whatâs going on?
I walk down the street and see a helicopter landing on the road which is packed with police cars, ambulances, fire trucks and so much more. At first, I thought it was a car that had gone into a pond behind a house which I thought was strange but the actual story is even more incredible.
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Three tree trimmers were using a cherry picker to cut down branches in a backyard and when attempting to move it they lost control and it ended up falling on top of one of the workers. One of the first responders to the accident says that the worker was completely submerged, except for part of his face. At least one victim was stuck in the water for at least twenty minutes when heavy equipment was raced to the scene to help.
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One of the men was able to rescue himself, while authorities say the second man was trapped under a 6,000-pound piece of equipment. Authorities say Rogers Public Works used two skid loaders and a tow truck to lift the equipment enough to free the man, whose arm was pinned. Rescue crews had to hold his head up to keep it above water during the operation.
Authorities say both men were taken to North Memorial Hospital for evaluation. Both had facial injuries, and the trapped man had an injured arm and possible hypothermia.
A scuba diver was brought in but I think they were able to pull him out of the water before it was needed and it sound that while the victim has hypothermia, water luckily didnât get into his lungs and he should be okay.
Thank you to the first responders for helping prevent a bad situation into turning into something even worse.