Good Samaritans pull man to safety after pickup truck flips on I-485

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Good Samaritans rushed to help a man early Thursday morning after his truck flipped on top of him along Interstate 485 in south Charlotte.

The crash happened around 10:30 a.m. near the I-485 on ramp from Interstate 77.

When Channel 9 arrived on the scene, the overturned Chevrolet truck was upside down in a ditch along the interstate, smoke rising from it and the rear wheels still spinning. Paramedics and firefighters had not arrived yet, but some passerbys had already dragged the man out of the truck.

[PHOTOS: Driver rescued after truck flips on I-485]

Witnesses told Channel 9 that they saw the man in the red truck was stopped on the shoulder of I-485. When he pulled back into traffic he was rear-ended by a white Ford F-250. Jeff Carter told Channel 9 he was right behind the truck when it happened.

"He slammed right into him, and the impact pushed the white truck almost into my lane so I got off on the left shoulder," Carter said.

The smaller red truck spun into the grass and flipped.

(Click PLAY to see raw video from the crash scene)

The driver, Cesar Hernandez, was partly ejected from the truck and pinned beneath it. Mike Kurn was on his way to work from Rock Hill. He stopped and tried to lift the crumpled truck off of Hernandez but couldn't.

"The man's legs were still underneath the car, so I trie to move it, but it was too heavy," Kurn said.

That’s when two more people stopped and the three of them managed to move the truck and pull the man out from under it.

Kurn told Channel 9 that he didn't think anyone could have survived the crash.

"I just, I hoped to the Lord that he was not dead,” Kurn said. “And when I got over there he was actually making sounds under the car, so I knew he was alive.”

When paramedics arrived, Hernandez was alert and talking to his rescuers. He was taken to Carolinas Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Kurn was emotional while talking to Channel 9 reporter Greg Suskin, and gave credit to the others who helped in the rescue.

"A lot of great people around here. There's people that aren't in front of this camera right now, that should be," Kurn said.

Troopers charged Hernandez with not having a driver's license, not wearing a seatbelt and failure to yield.

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