After a mountain biking accident left a Seattle man with a severe leg injury, a text to 911 likely saved his life, according to the Kittitas County sheriff's office.
The man, 51, may have fallen as far as 500 feet while biking along No Name Creek near the north end of Little Kachess Lake, the sheriff's office reported. The man had suffered a debilitating leg injury about 10 miles east of Snoqualmie Pass. Around 11:40 a.m. Sunday, a one-word text got through to 911: HELP."
Over the next 90 minutes, dispatchers spoke with him through broken cell service.
"The man told dispatchers he couldn’t reach his bicycle or supplies from where he was laying," according to the sheriff's office. "He appeared to pass in and out of consciousness and sent messages to share with his wife and family if he didn’t survive."
Dispatch told him how to make a tourniquet to slow his bleeding, using the straps of his bicycle helmet.
"Meanwhile," the sheriff's office reported, "the deputy coordinating this rescue determined the ravine the man fell into was so steep it would take a technical rope team hours to reach him — hours he didn’t have."
The King County sheriff’s office responded with a hoist-equipped helicopter, Guardian 2. The aircrew flew him directly to Harborview Medical Center.
"They got him to the hospital in under 3 hours, King County sheriff's spokesperson Brandyn Hull said via email.
The Kittitas County sheriff's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was unclear how long the man had been in the woods before his text went through. An update on his condition was not immediately available.
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