N.Y. Man Crushed by SUV Talks about Ordeal
June 01--ALBANY -- When firefighters arrived, they saw a man's legs sticking out from beneath a Buick Rendezvous in a driveway on Joanne Court just off Hackett Boulevard.
A busted jack lay crumpled next to the driver's side front wheel.
The full weight of the two-ton SUV was resting on the man's chest.
"I thought he was dead," said Capt. Geo Henderson, a firefighter and paramedic from the Rescue 9 unit on Delaware Avenue, one-half mile away.
After receiving a 911 call, firefighters made it to the scene in three and one-half minutes. The man, Sunny Khokhar, 26, had been pinned under the vehicle for perhaps a total of five minutes. He was unconscious and had stopped breathing.
Every second would count.
"If he was going to have any kind of fighting chance to survive, we had to get that vehicle off him and get him breathing again," Henderson said, recalling the incident that unfolded at about 5 p.m. Tuesday just as a violent thunderstorm was bearing down on the city.
There was no time to call in heavy-duty specialty equipment to lift up the SUV. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance.
Lt. Rick Scanlon of Engine 9 took charge and directed four firefighters and a police officer who also arrived at the scene. The six men grabbed the front bumper, around the tire rim, anywhere they could get a hand-hold. On a count, they all heaved together.
The front end of the 4,200-pound vehicle lifted slightly off Khokhar's chest for a split-second.
Henderson had hold of Khokhar's ankles.
"I gave him a good tug and he slipped out," Henderson said.
Henderson and paramedic Glenn Eggelhoefer began working on Khokhar, who was motionless. His skin had a sickly blue tinge. He had a deep depression across his chest and forehead where the vehicle's undercarriage had pinned him to the ground.
They feared he had skull and chest fractures, but the most vital thing was to open his airway and get him breathing again. They applied a bag vent mask. Soon, Khokhar was breathing slightly and responded to sharp pokes. He was not fully conscious and could not speak.
Time was of the essence. "If his brain was not getting oxygen, there was a high risk of brain damage," Henderson said.
Along with firefighters Tony Fratianni, Pat Nolan, Tim McGlone and police officer Adam Kalbfliesh, they kept pumping oxygen with the manual bag, fitted him with a rigid neck collar to prevent spinal cord damage, slid him onto a backboard and loaded him into a waiting ambulance. They rushed the man to Albany Medical Center Hospital.
The skies opened up with a wind-lashed deluge.
The entire drama on Joanne Court lasted eight minutes.
It seemed like eight hours to the gravely injured man's sister, Sheila Khokhar, who first spotted him pinned by the SUV and ran around the house, frantically screaming for help. Her three young children at home began to cry.
Her brother Sunny, who works at a deli in Troy, had driven over to Joanne Court from his house across town. The high-mileage Buick Rendezvous his dad had given him to use had been leaking oil. He jacked it up and removed a wheel to get a look at the problem. He apparently did not put chocks behind the rear wheels as a safety precaution. The driveway had a slight grade.
"I remember there was a strong gust of wind that moved the car jack. Then the car started falling on me and I put my arms up to try to block it," Sunny Khokhar said. "I don't remember anything after that."
From his hospital bed at Albany Med on Thursday, where Khokhar had been transferred from the intensive care unit after his condition was upgraded, he expressed gratitude for the quick work of first responders.
"They saved my life. It was a miracle. I want to say thanks to everybody," he said, still groggy from pain medication. No fractures were discovered by an X-ray, CAT scan and MRI. He suffered no apparent life-threatening or major permanent injuries. Doctors are keeping him in the hospital as they treat a blood clot in his liver.
When family members first arrived at the hospital Tuesday night, emergency room physicians offered no guarantees. There was a possibility that Khohkar might not pull through or that he would be paralyzed, they told his relatives.
Khohkar's family, who emigrated from Pakistan two decades ago, recalled the ordeal and praised the help of neighbors, firefighters and police on the scene.
"They were like angels that God sent to save my brother," Sheila Khokhar said of the first responders. "They saved his life. They are my heroes. I want to say thank you and God bless them all."
She also thanked her neighbor, Janet Tenney, who called 911, and other neighbor women who helped calm her at the scene.
"They were all so kind," she said.
The firefighters took the ordeal in stride and shrugged off the title of heroes.
"The patient and his family might consider us heroes, but we were just doing our job," Henderson said.
"It's all in the line of duty," said Chief Robert Forezzi. "They reacted quickly and their training took over."
The firefighters will be considered for a commendation among those given out at an annual awards night, Forezzi said.
Sheila Khokar's husband, Ejaz Abid, an associate pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Albany, credited a higher power for his brother-in-law's survival.
"Everybody prayed very hard. Our prayers were answered," he said.
pgrondahl@timesunion.com --518-454-5623 --@PaulGrondahl
Copyright 2012 - Times Union, Albany, N.Y.
