A local woman survived the crushing weight of a car after she was pinned underneath it, thanks to the efforts of a few Oceanside Police officers.
The incident happened in front of Nancy Nelson's home on Mountain Vista Way in Oceanside around 9 a.m. on November 28.
Nelson says her left leg from her thigh to her pelvis is numb after her more than 3,000 pound Mitsubishi Galant pinned her to the ground and parked on her pelvis.
“The pain was excruciating, I was screaming," Nelson told NBC 7.
The car rolled over her when she accidentally left it in gear and stepped out to close the garage door to her Oceanside home.
Neighbor Al Pappalardo said he remembers hearing someone yelling, “Help me! Help me!”
He was one of the several neighbors who tried to help the 52-year-old woman pinned beneath the front driver’s side tire of her car.
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“The four of us attempted to get on the side she was on and lift vehicle off her, but there was no way," said Pappalardo.
That was until Oceanside police arrived on scene.
Nelson said she was writhing in pain beneath the car but remembers the officers lifting the car off of her.
“He looked like he was Ironman. I mean, I thought this man is a god," Nelson said, speaking of Sgt. John McKean.
McKean and his partner, Officer Tom Cahill were able to lift Nelson's Mitsubishi with her neighbors help just enough to ease her pain.
Outside the Oceanside Police Department he showed us on a different car how he got by the wheel well and his partner Tom Cahill got in the middle of the car and were able to lift Nancy’s Mitsubishi, with neighbors help—just enough to ease her pain.
"We were probably there a good seven minutes trying to hold the car up,” McKean said. “She was yelling at us 'Please don’t let it down. Please don’t let it down'."
“I could feel the car getting heavier and heavier,” said Cahill. “I asked someone to get a jack.”
Once two more officers arrived, the group were finally able to lift the car high enough to pull Nelson to safety.
She says she’s forever grateful but the officers told us, they were just happy to help.
Nelson is going through physical therapy and has to use a walker but she did not suffer any broken bones.
She works as a massage therapist and says she will give free lifetime massages for the officers if they are ever in need.
