Scary situation to be in

[IUemt]

Man trapped for 3 days in wrecked car off I-680 in North San Jose

Lisa Fernandez

Mercury News

Article Launched: 05/14/2008 06:01:38 PM PDT

Trapped for three days inside his wrecked black Cadillac Escalade with a broken femur, Duc Vinh Do moved in agony, searching for his cell phone - his only link to help.

Thousands of cars already had passed the SUV on San Jose's busy Interstate 680, and no one had spotted it in the thick brush.

Dehydrated, disoriented and in pain, Do finally crawled into the back seat at 4 p.m. Tuesday, found his cell and punched 911. But he didn't know where he was.

At first, rookie 911 operator Wendy Leslie thought Do might be delusional. San Jose police senior operator, Karen Lavrischeff, ended up tracking him down by "pinging" cell phone towers in the area to "triangulate" his SUV. Dispatcher Tara Doxie then set the officers in motion.

Police rushed to the area. But the tracking system sent them to the west side of the highway - opposite of where Do was trapped, 20 feet off northbound I-680 at Hostetter Road.

They couldn't find him.

So police Sgt. Paul Cook came up with a plan: Play the "hot and cold" game with police sirens. Officers hopped in their cars, sirens blaring, and dispatchers told Do to yell into his phone when he heard them.

But police still couldn't pinpoint Do's location because the sirens were still too far away from him.

Next police came up with another plan. They called the Santa Clara County Sheriff to borrow the department's Star One helicopter.

The helicopter pilot almost immediately spotted the black tire tracks that had veered off the road.

Officer Leslie Martin found Do's SUV. Firefighters and paramedics pulled him from his car at 5:05 p.m.

"This was an excellent job by our police and dispatchers," said Sgt. Mike Sullivan.

Do, a 31-year-old Milpitas resident, was on his way home late Saturday night after spending the evening in downtown San Jose. Police don't know why, but Do's Escalade veered off the highway and crashed into a tree.

He found himself trapped, his SUV hidden from view by a thick cover of bushes. No one reported him missing.

Finally, on Tuesday about 4 p.m. Do, who had survived on two bottles of water he had in his mangled SUV, made the call that saved his life.

Wednesday, Do was recovering in an intensive care unit at a local hospital and was not yet up to talking more about his ordeal - even to police.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9261225?source=most_viewed

[Richard B the EMT]

This was much more dangerous than that guy who got trapped in the elevator for 3 days, which has so recently been on Youtube.

[firedoc5]

We've had similar incidents, but not three days. A few hours or one day, but not three.

[Richard B the EMT]

Follow this link to the guy I mentioned, with a further link at Youtube to a descriptive article at the New Yorker magazine.

Also, my error, it was only 41 hours. Still way too long, as an hour is too long not to be noticed!

[itku2er]

Do must not have had any family close by or some one would have missed him unless he had a habit of staying "missing" for days. Great story though just goes to show the human survival will can play a part in the over all survival. Thanks Richard for sharing yours too I had seen that one.

[firedoc5]

It helps greatly just to have water. Without the water his chances would have deminished greatly.

[Laura Anne]

Oh God, what a horrible ordeal for that man. Glad to know he's recovering ok in ICU. I think I may throw a bottle of water in my car...just in case!

[n7lxi]

I was on the search for this one.

"A woman who had been missing for eight days was found alive Thursday in her car at the bottom of a steep ravine after searchers traced a signal from her cell phone."

http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/W...ghters/46$56557

[Just Plain Ruff]

i had a girl who drove off the road after a night of drinking. She ended up upside down in a creek, her front bumper was on one side of the creek, and her rear bumper was on the other side of the creek making a suitable bridge for someone to walk across the bottom of her car from bank to bank.

She was held in place by the steering wheel. She says she went off the road at 1am or so and we got the call at 11am that same day. She had bilat femur fractures, open ankle fracture, closed head injury, bilat pneumos and other assorted injuries. We flew her to the trauma center of course her golden hour was shot to crap but she made it out alive and just walks with a limp now.

I was in the water under her for about an hour before we got her out of the car. I lacerated my knee on something in the water. Never know what you are gonna get.