Sheriff deputy John Holt is being hailed as a hero for saving a woman who was trapped underneath an overturned car. The incident occurred on May 7 in Gloucester County, Virginia, and the bodycam footage was shared by the Sheriff’s office on May 18, which has since been viewed more than 100,000 times on Facebook.
“The driver was laying underneath the vehicle with her head pinned by the sunroof,” the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office statement said. “Seeing the trauma her child was witnessing, Deputy J. Holt went into overdrive.”
The video shared shows Deputy Holt arriving on the scene and approaching the accident. He tells dispatchers that a car is flipped over. Inside the car, a child is seen cry and pleading with the officer to help their mother whose head was trapped by the sunroof of the car.
In the video, the child cries, “She can’t breathe. She can’t breathe. Please help.”
Deputy Holt is then heard saying, “She is trapped under the vehicle. I can’t get it off,” before ordering the child to get out of the car. The screen goes black as Holt’s body camera is pressed against the car. He is heard straining loudly as he attempts to lift the overturned car off the woman. The woman was able to remove her head from beneath the trapped vehicle, although the extent of her injuries was not disclosed by authorities. Nevertheless, Holt’s heroic act is being commended.
Holt is being celebrated for his act on Facebook and Twitter users praise him for his bravery. This is also not Deputy Holt’s first heroic act. Recently, Holt was awarded at the local and regional Top Cop Awards for saving a disabled young girl and woman from a burning house. The victims were trapped in a burning house, and Holt rescued them by crawling into the smoke-filled structure to save the occupants.
