Apple Watch Credited With Saving Man’s Life After His Car Winds Upside Down In a Pool

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Add another person to the list of people who had their life saved by the Apple Watch. A Massachusetts man’s Apple Watch summoned help after his car crashed and he wound up being submerged upside down in a swimming pool.

WesternMassNews reports that on December 16, Brent Hill of Easthampton, MA, began feeling nauseous while driving his car home. He cannot recall what happened next due to blacking out and not coming to until his car was submerged upside down in his neighbor’s swimming pool. 

Camera footage from a neighbor’s security camera shows Hill’s car accelerating into their garage, then into the neighboring swimming pool, landing upside down.

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It is believed that Hill’s weight shifted after blacking out, placing more pressure on the car’s accelerator.

“So the assumption is that when my weight shifted and my foot really hit that accelerator and no braking and I was just plowing right through,” Hill explained. “I didn’t know any of this was going on and, when I saw the footage of my car careening down the street and crashing, I was shocked because of how fast I was going.”

The next memory Hill had after blacking out was regaining consciousness due to hearing a small voice talking to him: his Apple Watch’s Crash Detection feature automatically calling emergency services. The voice he heard was the operator trying to speak to him.

“If emergency services had not contacted me through that watch and just coached me through that, there’s no way I would’ve got out of there,” said Hill.

First responders soon arrived to rescue him. While he could barely hear any of what was happening outside of the car, the Apple Watch voice helped him.

Hill said, “I didn’t know where I was, and that person just kept me calm and, if that probably not have happened, I probably would have drowned.”

Once he was rescued from the pool, Hill was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries.

Hill’s neighbor, Elizabeth Laprade-Appelquist, also praised the Apple Watch.

“My husband was upstairs and so he called 911 and he was on the phone with 911 and they said Oh yeah, we’re talking to the driver right now’ which later we found out is the beauty of the Apple Watch,” she said. “They were comforting him because he was saying the water was coming in and I just thought that part was miraculous.”

The Apple Watch’s Crash Detection feature has repeatedly aided drivers and passengers alike in getting lifesaving help in hazardous situations. In February 2023, the wearable’s Crash Detection feature summoned help for a group in Germany after their car went through a guardrail and plunged 60 feet below the highway late at night.

Apple Watch Crash Detection works on the Apple Watch Series 8 or later, Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), and Apple Watch Ultra or newer with watchOS 9 or later. The feature is also available on the iPhone 14 or newer with iOS 16 or newer.

The feature’s emergency calls are placed using a cellular connection or Wi-Fi Calling with an Internet connection from the user’s Apple Watch or iPhone.



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