Citizens help free man pinned by truck

A man pinned beneath a wrecked pickup was rescued by a Spokane Valley police officer and volunteers who lifted the vehicle off him Tuesday afternoon near the Opportunity post office.

Steven Seifert, 45, rolled his full-size Chevrolet truck on its side after smashing into two parked cars in the post office parking lot.

When the truck rolled, it landed on Seifert’s arm. He was later taken to Spokane Valley Hospital and Medical Center, where he was in satisfactory condition.

A 12-year-old boy riding in the vehicle was uninjured, suspended in his seat belt.

Seifert apparently blacked out while driving east on Sprague Avenue just west of Pines Road, traffic Officer Joe Bonin said.

A lawnmower tire, which flew out of Seifert’s truck, caught the attention of Officer Eric Epperson, who was driving by.

Epperson pulled over and led volunteers in freeing Seifert.

“Eight or nine citizens ran out and helped him lift the truck,” Sgt. Martin O’Leary said.

No one else was injured in the accident, although the damage was extensive.

The truck swerved off the road, running over a stop sign in front of the post office and hitting the curb, which tipped the truck on two wheels, Bonin said.

The two vehicles Seifert smashed plowed into a third.

Flying debris damaged a fourth vehicle. The Chevy landed in the street on its side, trapping Siefert’s arm under the truck frame.

Leo Lolie, a retired emergency medical technician, was a few cars behind Seifert.

“I saw the debris fly and the truck roll,” he said.

Lolie rushed forward with bandages from his Ford Explorer.

“I just had him put it over his wounds,” Lolie said. “I couldn’t get in to him and didn’t want to move him. He just said he blacked out. He was hurting.”

All the parked cars damaged in the collision belonged to post office employees.

Jerry Reidt owns a 2001 Toyota Tacoma pickup that now has a shredded back end.

“It’s definitely toast to here,” Reidt said, pointing to where the truck bed meets the cab. “I’m hoping my frame is not bent.”

But that wasn’t the end of the vehicle damage.

As a Valley Fire truck tried to leave the scene, it sideswiped the Explorer belonging to Lolie.

The vehicles got hung up and the firetruck was pulling the Ford forward as Lolie waved his arms and shouted, “No! Stop!”

The firetruck received only minor damage.