Teenagers usually use the iPhone virtual assistant Siri to help them find the nearest ice cream or send a text message, but a Tennessee teen used the feature to save his life.
Sam Ray, 18, was working underneath his truck on July 2 at his family’s Murfreesboro, Tennessee, home when the jack gave out, according to a Facebook post from the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office.
As Ray tried to free himself from the 5,000-pound vehicle crushing him, he heard a tone in his back pocket.
He repeated the motion several times and was eventually able to instruct Siri to "call 911," and Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher Christina Lee answered the call, according to police.
"When I heard a woman talking from inside my pocket, I just started shouting,” Ray said. “I didn’t know if she could hear me or not, but I heard her say that help was just around the corner,” said Ray, according to a statement from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was eventually treated.
"I just wanted him to have reassurance,” Lee said, according to the sheriff's office.
Ray was airlifted to Vanderbilt, where he was treated for three broken ribs, a bruised kidney, a cut on the forehead, and second- and third-degree burns, according to the hospital.
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Vanderbilt’s trauma chief, Dr. Richard Miller, who treated Ray, said if it weren't for the very lucky butt dial and fast-acting emergency responders, Ray may not have made it out from beneath the truck.
"His injuries were not life-threatening, but they could have been," Miller said.
"The longer a patient is trapped, the more problems they can have,” said Kirk Krokosky, one of Sam’s flight nurses, who dubbed Siri as Ray's "guardian angel."
Doctors estimate that Ray was under the truck for about 40 minutes, according to the Vanderbilt statement.
Ray, who plans to explore a career as a minister when he starts college in the fall, credits more than technological advances. “I thank God I’m here,” Ray said. "This has reminded me how fragile life is and how little time we have to make a difference.”
