A 28-year-old fisherman is recovering in a Portland hospital after being crushed beneath a massive boulder at the Hammond Marina jetty in Astoria on Saturday, an accident he survived by using his Bluetooth earbuds to get Siri to dial 911.
Joe Little was fishing alone around 7 a.m. when a rock shifted beneath him. His grandmother, Kelly Simonson, said he felt it begin to move and tried to brace it with his feet, but the boulder was too large.
“He said that he felt it start to move and he put his feet down to stop it, but the boulder was huge, and he slipped down and it just went over him,” Simonson said.
Little ended up pinned beneath the boulder below the high tide line, meaning he had limited time before rising water put him at risk of drowning. His Bluetooth earbuds were still connected to his phone, and he was able to activate Siri to call 911, his mother, Mindy, said.
Warrenton Police Department Sgt. Dylan McCoy said responding officers located Little by honking their patrol car horns while a 911 dispatcher asked him whether the sound was getting louder or quieter. Police then launched a drone and spotted him trapped beneath the rock, with only his upper body and feet visible.
Firefighters worked to free him by clearing smaller rocks away from the site.
“They removed some of the smaller ones and that allowed them to move him from underneath the extremely large boulder which had trapped him,” McCoy said.
Responders determined the jetty terrain was too hazardous to carry Little out on foot and called in the U.S. Coast Guard. A Coast Guard helicopter arrived and hoisted him from the scene on a gurney.
Little suffered severe facial injuries, including a broken jaw, and faces an eight-hour facial reconstruction surgery, according to his family.
“His face got smashed. He’s almost unrecognizable,” his mother said. “It’s a miracle that my son is alive.”
