Man stuck under 700 pound boulder, dog comes to the rescue

David Baker

An alert dog helped lead rescuers to a man whose leg was crushed under a massive rock near a wash in Phoenix on Sunday night.

The man was hiking in the wash in the river bottom near the Salt River and Central Avenue when somehow the boulder and the man rolled multiple times and the boulder ended up on the man. The boulder weight between 600 and 700 pounds.

Thankfully, another man and his dog were in the area.

“His dog started acting funny,” Capt. Ardell Deliz with the Phoenix Fire Department said.”He decided to take his time a little bit and really listen to what was going on and in the distance, he heard a man yelling for help.”

The dog named Hank then led his owner to the man who needed help.

“Me and Hank ran through the wash down there underneath the bridge and ran right through the water and Hank led me right through it,” Alonzo Reddick said. “Hank got me there and was pretty adamant to make sure that guy was OK.”

Paramedics and Technical Rescue Teams later arrived and treated the man. They waited until there were enough firefighters to lift the rock off the man’s leg.

His leg was seriously hurt but should survive. It might have been worse if the Hank and Reddick were not in the area.

“It was definitely an experience I’ll never forget with this dog,” Reddick said.

Reddick said Hank is five years old and has cataracts in his eyes.