Man who lifted minivan off 50-year-old: 'He was taking his last breath, I do believe'

[Purveyor]

Mike Treciak grabbed the Chevrolet Venture by the front, left wheel well and hoisted the vehicle about 16 to 18 inches, allowing two panicked family members to pull a 50-year-old out from under the van, he said.

“He was taking his last breath, I do believe,” Treciak said of the man, whose family was yelling for help. “He was in peril. He was in bad shape.”

By the time firefighters arrived about 1:15 p.m. to the driveway outside a home on Oak Street near Trail Street, the man already had been freed, said Jackson Fire Acting Capt. Bob Walkowicz.

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“The fireman said, ‘You lifted that?’ I said, ‘I had to,’ ” he said.

Firefighter Craig Reppert, who was at the scene with Walkowicz, plans to nominate Treciak for a Red Cross hero or life-saving award, Walkowicz said.

MORE...

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2011/06/man_who_lifted_minivan_off_50-.html

[KittyWampus]

1. Hero has some big arms! Thank Goodness he was there.

[joeybee12]

15. Yup, big guy...my first thought it was one of those adrenalin rushes

that allowed some small guy to do this...in any case, job well done.

[trumad]

2. 50 year old?

They make the guy sound like an old geezer.

[Nye Bevan]

12. Admit it. You used to think 50 *was* an old geezer.

So did I. Now I think 50 is pretty young. Funny how that works :)

[trumad]

16. 53....

and I can tell you... I'm in better shape than the guy who lifted the car.

but maybe not as strong. :-)

[dionysus]

3. just.. wow

[dipsydoodle]

4. Today's cheerful post

K & R.

[LiberalEsto]

5. Ouch

my sciatica hurts just thinking about a feat like that.

Amazing guy!

[auntAgonist]

6. He did an amazing job!

He's one of the good guys! I'm sure the son and wife will be forever grateful to him. The article says the son was hurt trying to help his Dad. I hope he's ok.

Well done neighbour!

aA

[no_hypocrisy]

7. My fourth grade teacher told us the story of an elderly woman who

lifted a truck off her son and saved his life. My teacher ascribed the sudden unnatural strength to adrenalin.

[Xithras]

22. It's partially adrenaline.

There's a medical term for these feats: "hysterical strength". It's partially caused by adrenaline and the priming of our fight-or-flight response, which prepares the muscles to work at levels outside of their normal range. It also has to do with the fact that our muscles have built in "safeties" that normally prevent us from overexerting ourselves. Without them, most muscles are actually strong enough to rip themselves in half, and some are strong enough to break the bones they're attached to. And I'm not just talking about meatheads...everyone from keyboard warriors to little old ladies have that kind of strength and potential to injure themselves. To keep that from happening, our nervous system limits our muscle range to a "safe zone", meaning that most of us can only use a fairly small portion of our actual muscle strength, no matter how hard we try. It's theorized, however, that in certain panic situations those safeties turn themselves off, allowing us to use our muscles to their full capability.

There are some pretty basic evolutionary reasons why our body would work this way, but this hasn't been studied much because it's very hard to replicate in a research environment.

[no_hypocrisy]

23. Thanks for the information. I always wanted more about that medical theory.

[Canuckistanian]

28. Interesting

You sound like you work in the field of kinetics or neurobiology.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

29. Thanks for the info: my brother lifted a sports car up off his wife when it overturned on an offramp...

He was driving and the car flipped. He got out, but she was trapped inside. My brother was a strong guy at the time, but picking up the sports car was an amazing feat.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. That had to be most of a ton.

I'm not worthy.

[janet118]

9. I've heard of a mother or father doing this kind of thing . . .

for their child, but a complete stranger? Wow!! This guy deserves the Good Samaritan Gold Medal. He may not be a Christian but he certainly acts like he gets what Christ was talking about . . . love your neighbor . . . do unto others . . . . greater love than this . . . etc. Amazing!

[razorman]

10. What's the big deal? Can't everyone bench-press a station wagon? Really, though,

thank God this man was on the scene.

[MineralMan]

11. I couldn't lift that van. However, I have a commercial floor jack that is always

immediately accessible in my garage, and I keep an eye on my neighborhood. Whenever I see a neighbor under a car in an unsafe way, without jack stands supporting the car, I grab my floor jack and head for the scene. Before I do anything else, I position it and raise it to act as an additional support. Then, I offer a brief lecture about safety when working under a car and offer to loan the person my jack stands.

All of this because I once had to run across the street at my old home in California and jack up a car that had fallen on a neighbor. He survived, but ended up with back injuries that crippled him up pretty bad. So, I'm very proactive when it comes to neighbors lying under their cars now. All my current neighbors come over before starting to work under their car and ask if they can borrow my jack stands now. They've all heard my little safety talk. I'm happy to loan them.

[snooper2]

13. so you are saying I shouldn't use that short 2x4 on end as a jackstand anymore?

:P

[MineralMan]

14. Yah...I'm saying that, for sure.

Some of the things people do scare the crap out of me. I can't imagine what they're thinking.

[snooper2]

18. I know what you mean, I've got a really good set of jack stands

and a 3.5 ton commerical hydraulic jack..

Lend them out all the time

[MineralMan]

20. Good job. It's pretty hard for even an amateur to ruin a

floor jack and stands, so I don't mind loaning them out. I'm more careful with breakable tools, though. Usually the person borrowing them can't afford to fix them if they break, so I'm very hesitant to loan them. Sometimes, though, if I'm not busy, I'll offer to help, with me using the tools. One tool I absolutely won't loan is a chainsaw. Too much risk of the borrower hurting him or herself. It's just not a good idea.

[Rabblevox]

17. Saw that just the other day...

young kid underneath a car with a jackstand on one side, and a pile of lumber holding up the other. I went a bit nuts on him, (after he was out from under) which wasn't cool, but it scared the piss out of me.

Sometimes people just beg for a Darwin award.

[Enthusiast]

24. My neighbor

holds his vehicles up with cinder blocks all the time. I have seen those things crumble.

[Common Sense Party]

19. "because it wasn’t a cool sight"

Not only is this guy a hero, he's also one smooth master of understatement.

[malaise]

21. Now that's a hero

Rec

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. wonderful story

[Uncle Joe]

26. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Purveyor.:thumbsup:

[flamingdem]

27. How cool is that!?! nt