College student uses SOS on Apple Watch to get rescued after rollover crash

“College student Casey Bennett, 22, describes his near death experience lightly, saying he’s just happy to be alive,” Cassie Carlisle reports for WMAR-TV. “‘Airbags smell like gunpowder when they go off. I thought the car was on fire because I saw smoke and just kinda smelled something burning and I was like, ‘Oh no! Now I have to plan how to get out of this before the car explodes,’ and then I kinda like looked around and was like, okay, it’s not on fire,’ Bennett said chuckling. ‘The next thought was, you’re upside down again.’ Bennett said during the roll, his phone flew out of the center console and smacked his nose. It came to rest on the shattered windshield out of reach.”

“Once the car stopped, Bennett found himself dangling from the driver’s seat, restrained only by the seatbelt as the car rested on its side,” Carlisle reports. “‘I was trying to figure out if I could get out, and I was like nope, you’re just going to have to hang out here,’ Bennett said. It was then that he pushed one button on his Apple Watch. ‘I just pressed down this side button on here for six seconds and it called 911,’ Bennett said. The Apple Watch also sent a text to his emergency contacts letting them know he’s in trouble, as well as his location.”

“‘I’m sure someone else called 911, but it was just really cool to be able to talk to someone for six minutes because it would’ve felt like much longer, waiting, like not knowing if someone was coming,’ Bennett said,” Carlisle reports. “Firefighters helped him climb through the sunroof of the totaled Jeep Patriot, and he walked to the ambulance waiting for him. The emergency message from the watch alerted his dad who was around the corner at home, and he met Bennett at the scene then rode with him to the hospital. Once there, the watch sent another message to his emergency contacts updating his location… He sent a message to Tim Cook, thanking them for the emergency function on the watch, and he got a response saying they were glad he was okay.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Yet again, Apple Watch seamlessly comes through in a pinch!

Here’s how to make an SOS call with your Apple Watch:
1. Press and hold the side button on your watch until the Emergency SOS slider appears.
2. Continue to hold down the side button. Wait for a countdown to begin and an alert to sound. You can also drag the Emergency SOS slider.
3. When the countdown ends, your watch automatically calls emergency services.

More info about SOS on Apple Watch here.

SEE ALSO:
iOS 10.2 delivers Apple Watch’s Emergency SOS feature to iPhone – November 9, 2016
How my Apple Watch saved my life – July 25, 2016
A real lifesaver: Apple Watch saves lives – March 28, 2016
Man credits Apple Watch with saving his life – March 15, 2016
Apple Watch saves teenager’s life; Tim Cook offers thankful teen an internship – October 2, 2015