When Scott Ponton returned home from a hunting trip on October 28 he heard a kitten meowing. He then realized the little cat had hitchhiked its way to Ponton’s Corpus Christi home in the wheel well of his car.
In an effort to free the cat, he used the jack that came with his Ford Fusion to remove the front, driver’s side wheel. Still up on the jack, Ponton started to remove a panel that would allow him to reach the kitten. But that’s when the car slipped off the jack and and the brake drum fell on his right leg, the weight of the car pinning him to the ground.
“It was more like excruciating pressure,” Ponton replied when asked how painful it was. “It was all I could do to stay calm. The Lord helped me stay calm.”
Corpus Christi Police Senior Officer Kirk Stowers was the first rescuer to arrive. He recorded video of the incident with his body camera. He’d been to a similar scene before, but in that case, the car crushed a man to death.
“That was something that was really on my mind,” he said. “Oh gosh, I really hope that it doesn’t happen again.”
It didn’t. Corpus Christi firefighters soon arrived, and they used their hydraulic tools to lift the car up enough for Ponton to roll his way to freedom. He’s left with two cuts that required three staples to close and severe bruising, but he considers himself lucky.
“It could have hit the old coconut and it would have been all over,” he said referring to his head.
Ponton also blames himself for the accident, because he left the car on a jack instead of securing it with a wooden block.
“Out of any lessons that anybody takes away from this kind of deal, use a block,” he said. “Safety first. Don’t get complacent.”
