When a Gloucester County Sheriff’s Deputy saw a vehicle spun off the road, he immediately sprang into action. By summoning all his strength to lift a car for a woman with her head trapped beneath the sunroof to crawl free, he saved her life.
In body cam footage, Holt is seen running to the car following the youth’s cry that his mother was trapped inside. First freeing another smaller child from inside the car, Holt heeded his screams: “He said she can’t breathe ... and at that point her head was pinned underneath the vehicle,” Holt recalled.
Then, the deputy’s body camera lens gets obscured, but the audio tells an incredible story. Unassisted, Holt wedged his shoulder into the doorframe of the upturned car, and braced.
“I said, ‘All I have to do is just stand up,’ that’s what all I was telling myself,” he said.
Surprisingly, it worked; Holt managed to create enough clearance for the woman to free herself and start breathing again. She was taken to a hospital for medical assessment.
“Through sheer will and determination due to fearing the female may succumb to her circumstance in front of her panic-stricken child, Deputy J. Holt took quick action and was able to physically lift the vehicle up enough for the driver to maneuver her head out to safety,” they wrote.
Despite all the praise Holt has received from netizens, he maintains he’s just an average cop. However, history may prove otherwise.
In March 2020, the deputy—who has served in Iraq and for the Virginia Army National Guard—pulled two people from a burning building, saving their lives. He has received both local and regional Top Cop Awards from the Greater Hampton Roads Regional Crime Line for his bravery in February 2021.
