The iPhone 14 series introduced new safety-centric features like crash detection and Emergency SOS via satellite, and both the features have time and again made it to headlines for saving lives. Now, both the features have again proven to be useful by helping authorities track down a man after he accidentally drove his car off a cliff and plunged nearly 400 feet into a canyon in Los Angeles, as per a report by CBS News via MacRumors.
According to CBS News, the Crescenta Valley Station of Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department received communication from an iPhone communication center at around 10:30 pm—alerting them of the crash on Mt. Wilson Road in Los Angeles.
RESCUE: At 10:51pm on Fri we were alerted to a car 400’ over a cliff by the driver’s iPhone 14 crash detection. Location was Mt Wilson Rd. After locating him we guided in an @LACoFireAirOps copter. Suffered head trauma. @LASDHQ @CVLASD @KCBSKCALDesk @NBCLA @ABC7 @FOXLA @cnnbrk pic.twitter.com/jXdpuDL7Hk— Mike Leum (@Resqman) July 22, 2023
Once the rescue team arrived near the site of the accident, they could hear the man shouting for help. Finally, they were able to locate the vehicle approximately 400 feet below the road.
One of the rescuers, Mike Leum, said that the man was bleeding from the head when they found him, and his car was totally destroyed.
“I believe that if we didn’t have that good location information in a timely manner, he probably would’ve bled out,” Leum was quoted as saying by CBS News.
The leader of the rescue team, Steve Goldsworthy, said, “The location that we got from the iPhone activation was spot on,” and that “It was basically his phone on its own, calling for help on his behalf.”
Apple’s Emergency SOS via Satellite and Crash Detection—the iPhone features responsible for alerting authorities—were first introduced with the iPhone 14 series in September 2022.
In a related story, a woman who broke her leg while hiking in Tujunga in June was able to use the iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via Satellite feature to contact emergency services despite being in a remote location with no cell phone service. This is because the feature does not need cellular service.
