SIERRA COUNTY, Calif. (KOVR) – Trapped for nearly 24 hours in a crushed truck and not knowing if anyone was coming to their rescue, a man and his dog now have an incredible story of survival.
Daniel Higginbotham, 36, was almost home March 4 when he lost control of his truck and flew off State Route 89 just outside of Calpine, California.
“I was five miles from home, looked down at my phone real quick, and before I knew it, I was airborne,” Higginbotham said. “When I came to, I was basically upside down in my truck.”
The truck had crashed about 30 feet down an embankment, leaving Higginbotham hanging sideways in excruciating pain, with blood rushing to his head and a crushed leg. He was pinned under his steering wheel and unable to get out. He also had no way to call for help, having lost his phone in the crash.
“So, I fought it for a couple hours, and then, I realized I was stuck and I wasn’t gonna get out,” Higginbotham said.
His dog, Junior, was in the truck during the crash and survived uninjured. He managed to climb out the window and wouldn’t leave his owner’s side.
Higginbotham’s truck was nearly impossible to see from the road. He spent the next 22 hours wondering if he would be rescued, using all his strength to pull himself up to where he could keep his head upright, preventing himself from passing out.
“Banging my door panel and just making as much noise, saying ‘help,’ screaming ‘help.’ Nobody could hear me,” Higginbotham said. “The only thing that kept me going was just thinking about my daughter.”
The 36-year-old father made it through the cold, snowy night, but by the morning, he had lost hope and thought he would never be found.
Then, in what the California Highway Patrol calls a miracle, a driver on the highway happened to see Higginbotham’s truck and called 911. Shortly after, rescue crews responded.
“I heard somebody yelling out, ‘Is anybody in there?’ And I started screaming, ‘Get ‘em, Junior’ to my dog. I heard him bark. I could tell he was running,” Higginbotham said.
Junior led crews right to where his owner was trapped in the truck, according to CHP. It took nearly an hour for them to get Higginbotham to safety using the Jaws of Life and a pulley system to get him up the embankment on a gurney.
“At that point, I realized it wasn’t a dream. I got saved,” Higginbotham said. “I’m kind of still in shock, I think, that somebody actually found me.”
The 36-year-old is now navigating the long road to recovery at Plumas District Hospital, where he is receiving physical and occupational therapy. He needed multiple surgeries on his back and legs and also broke his sternum, pelvis and several ribs.
Doctors ended up having to amputate his right leg from the knee down due to frostbite. He also had frostbite on a number of fingers and toes.
“I’m dealing with it very well because I’m still alive,” Higginbotham said. “I don’t think it’s gonna slow me down after I actually heal up. I’ll be all right.”
Despite his life-changing injuries, Higginbotham is choosing not to dwell on what he has lost, but what he has gained: a chance to live with a new perspective while sharing his story of survival.
“You always have to have hope,” he said. “I shouldn’t be alive. It is a miracle. I believe that.”
Higginbotham’s family is raising money to get him into a new home and a new car suitable for a wheelchair.
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