A pickup truck slammed into a cell phone tower near Roach, Missouri early Tuesday morning, trapping the driver inside the mangled vehicle until firefighters could cut them free. The Northwest Fire Protection District was dispatched at approximately 5:43 a.m. to the wreck on Route 7 near Route J, and an automated crash notification from the driver's iPhone had already alerted Camden County Communications to the scene.
Crash Alert Routes Crews to the Wreck
According to LakeExpo.com, the iPhone Crash Detection alert helped lead emergency crews to the serious wreck near Roach before any 911 call came in. The first fire unit arrived about five minutes after dispatch, around 5:48 a.m., and found a pickup truck that had struck a cell phone tower with one person trapped inside, according to krcgtv.com. The occupant was described as heavily entrapped, and the extent of the truck's damage combined with the patient's position made the rescue especially difficult, the station reports.
Firefighters began extrication efforts immediately, and crews used two sets of extrication tools at the same time to free the trapped occupant, per the same account. The Northwest Fire Protection District responded with two engines and five personnel, according to komu.com. The outlet also reports the driver, a 39-year-old Camdenton man, was wearing a seat belt and was taken to Lake Regional Hospital by ambulance.
Injury Severity and Crash Details Differ Across Reports
Accounts of the patient's condition vary. LakeExpo.com describes the injuries as moderate, while krcgtv.com reports the patient sustained serious injuries. Reports also differ on timing and the exact sequence of impacts before the truck hit the tower: krmsradio.com places the crash around 5:45 a.m. on north Highway 7 near Irontown Drive, while komu.com's account puts it closer to 5:42 a.m. and says the pickup ran off the road, struck a culvert, crossed a roadway, hit a fence, and then crashed into the tower. centralmoinfo.com, however, reports the truck crossed a driveway rather than a roadway before hitting the fence and electrical tower.
Crews remained on scene following the extrication to await an engineer who was expected to inspect the tower for possible structural damage, according to komu.com's report.
How Crash Detection Works
The technology that flagged the wreck to dispatchers is built into recent iPhone models. Apple says Crash Detection can connect users to emergency services after a severe crash even when cellular and Wi-Fi coverage isn't available, according to nbclosangeles.com. If a user doesn't respond to the alert within 20 seconds, the device automatically calls emergency services and shares approximate coordinates, the outlet reports. The feature is available on iPhone 14 models and certain Apple Watch models, including the Series 8, SE, and Ultra.
The technology has been credited with helping locate crash victims elsewhere, too. A California couple whose car went into a canyon was found after their iPhone 14 used Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via satellite to share their coordinates with a search and rescue team, per nbclosangeles.com. In Florida, a driver whose car submerged in a canal was located after the phone sent 911 dispatchers an alert with estimated coordinates, the outlet notes.
