Utah trooper trapped under car says he's lucky to be alive


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah Highway Patrol trooper says he's feeling lucky to be alive after he was trapped underneath a car while trying to help a crashed motorist.

Trooper David Schiers was released from a Salt Lake City-area hospital Monday, two weeks after he stopped to help a driver who had crashed on a rainy day in Cedar City.

"I'm sore everywhere," Schiers told KSL-TV (http://bit.ly/1CSBYxV). "But with the amount of damage I saw on my own film, I think I'm lucky to be alive."

The dashboard camera video from Schiers' parked vehicle shows him waiting for help near the damaged car when a black BMW sedan suddenly spun off the road and slammed into the crashed car. The crash had enough force to throw pieces of the cars into the air.

The impact forced the first car into Schiers and trapped him underneath. Neither driver was injured in the crash about 250 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Rescuers used the jaws of life to lift the car, and an ambulance took Schiers to the hospital. He suffered a broken back, leg and several broken ribs as well as a punctured lung.

Schiers says he only recalls parts of the experience.

"I just remember the car coming, and then it's more or less a blur," he said. After two weeks of treatment in the hospital, he's still facing several months of physical therapy, but he's expected to make a full recovery.

His son, paramedic Dexter Schiers, said people die in accidents less severe than the one that injured his father.

"I was in awe. I was in shock," Dexter Schiers said. "Even to this day, it keeps going over and over in my head. (I'm) thinking, he really shouldn't be here."

David Schiers also serves as the fire chief in his hometown of Parowan, where he got a warm welcome home Monday.

Counting Schiers, seven troopers have been hit this year while on the side of Utah roads. Fourteen were hurt last year, and in 2013, there were 23 such collisions.

Schiers offered some safety tips for motorists.

"Slow down and move over, especially if it's raining, or snowing, or whatever," he said. "Wear your seat belts and be aware of what's around you."

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Information from: KSL-TV, http://www.ksl.com/

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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