FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - After surviving a terrifying accident involving a tractor-trailer, a man received a cause for celebration when he reunited with the first responders who saved his life.
Dion Kelley is shaking the hands and thanking the men from the Fort Lauderdale Technical Rescue Department who pulled him to safety after he was trapped under an 18-wheeler.
“I want to thank the whole Fort Lauderdale Rescue Department,” he said. “God bless you all. I’m lucky to still be here.”
Dion was the driver of a white SUV when it slammed into the back of a semi-truck last week Thursday on the northbound lanes of I-95 near State Road 84.
He was in South Florida visiting from Atlanta when the accident occurred. When his mother did not hear back from him, she says she knew something was definitely wrong.
“Last Thursday morning, around 6:30 a.m., we were called out for a vehicle versus the back of a truck,” said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Garrett Pingol. “And on arrival, our units had found that his vehicle had collided with and underridden the back of the 18-wheeler, and he was severely trapped.”
Crews had to work quickly to remove the driver trapped between the crushed metal and the driver’s seat.
“Our first arriving units from stations three and eight and station two downtown began to make assessments of the situation and start removing the car from around the vehicle, creating space and determining, ‘Can we get Mr. Kelley out of the car?'” said Deputy Chief Pingol. “And as our TRT team, the technical rescue team, arrived, they determined that additional equipment, heavy equipment, was needed to lift the vehicle off of Mr. Kelley’s vehicle and be able to pull him out. After about 30 minutes of work, crews achieved the objective.”
The Fort Lauderdale Technical Rescue team had to physically lift the semi-truck to get to Kelley whilst keeping him calm and stable.
“I saw this on the news in Atlanta,” said Latisha Kelley, Dion’s mother. “His phone was pinging at the hospital, and I told my sister. I said, Just look at the news.”
He was rushed to the hospital; however, he managed to only suffer minor injuries.
“Having a broken elbow and just a couple of stitches, I couldn’t. I didn’t know how bad the severity was until I saw the picture, and I’ve been thanking god that I had them come out there and pull me out, because I don’t think I’m supposed to be here,” Dion said.
“I want to thank each and every one of you because you gave me,” said Latisha. “You gave me back my son.”
Kelley is now heading back home, but he tells the crew that he will be back.
“I do owe them my life. I want to buy them something to eat tonight and whatever I can do,” he said.
“It’s a miracle,” said Latisha. “If you don’t believe in miracles, I do. I do. I do. There was an angel that came down and said, It just wasn’t his time to go.”
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.