Lefthand Canyon ATV Accident / Man Pinned

Rescuers free man pinned under ATV in Lefthand Canyon

By Mitchell Byars
The Denver Post
Posted: 04/25/2011 01:47:49 PM MDT
Updated: 04/25/2011 02:15:18 PM MDT




A 52-year-old Longmont man was rescued after flipping his ATV in the Lefthand Canyon off-road area this morning.
Sgt. Mike Dimond, a spokesman with the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, said the man was riding his ATV alone near County Road 286c when he rolled his ATV and was pinned.
The victim told rescuers he was pinned for around an hour before passersby were able to free him. They called for help around 10:30 a.m.
Lefthand Fire and Rocky Mountain Rescue responded along with Boulder County deputies. They took the man to a paved road about a mile away from the accident. From there, an ambulance took him to nearby Buckingham Park where an AirLife helicopter was waiting.
Dimond said that he was told by workers at the scene that the man's injuries "seemed fairly serious," and that he reported he could not feel his legs while he was pinned, though it is uncertain if that is due to spinal injuries or the weight of the ATV.

Dutch? Good for you man! I would have freaked out and not known what to do for the poor guy.

way to go "annonymous passerby"!

Yeah, that was me. I tried calling the guy who wrote the article to get more info on the guy. I figured he might be following up on it and want to make sure the guy is ok.

I know it was you from the other thread -- they must have missed the S on your chest, man. Good work, Rich, and good fortune for that dude.

:yelclap:

Good on ya Dutch.

Hell yea Dutch... my hero:loveu:

Any updates? Hopefully he turns out alright.

Good job Dutch, Good job!

I still haven't seen any further info on him or his condition.

Good job dutch. That guy is very lucky you have a wheeling addiction.

So I guess I should update this as I just got some more info. Russel from Left Hand Fire/Rescue drove by as I was heading up Left Hand today and gave Rick and Mike his card so I could call him. I made the call as soon as I got home and got the current info on Dave's condition.

Dave had suffered whats known as a hangman's fracture, basically a break/seperation of the C1, C2, and C3 vertebrae in the neck. They've already fused the back side and will be going in again soon to fuse the front. As of right now he only has minimum use of his right arm/hand and is without feeling or movement in the rest of his body below the nipple line.

There is some hope though as apparently he does have a tingling sensation in some parts and his toes are still reactive to touch, but their movement is involuntary and not controlled by Dave at all. The hope is that once everything gets fused and all the sweeling goes away his body will be able to sort itself out and he'll regain use of his body. Otherwise it is unfortunately looking like he'll become a quadriplegic. I'm really hoping thats not the case and he'll make a good recovery.

Jeezus. Yeah, let's all hope/pray that the paralysis is being affected by the swelling/trauma and he'll recover.