Charlotte Heffelmire, 19, of Northern Virginia, lifted a GMC pickup truck off her father after a jack slipped and the vehicle fell on him while he was working on it in the garage. Charlotte is 5-foot-6, 120 pounds, and was barefoot.
“I felt the weight shift,” remembered her father, Eric Heffelmire. “And I said, ‘You almost got it,’ and then it was just UGHHHHHHRRR, and suddenly I’m pulled out.”
The falling car sparked a fire beside propane containers. After Charlotte freed her dad, she quickly drove the truck out of the garage and sprayed the flames with a garden hose. Her grandmother and infant niece raced out of the home as it burned.
According to NBC Washington, Charlotte “suffered burns to her feet and hands, and a back injury has kept her from returning to the Air Force Academy (where she was a student). She said her plans for the future include public service.”
There were no reports of a spike in Gamma radiation at the time of the event.