Local News
A quick response during a snowstorm is credited with saving a man’s life in Auburn.
A Massachusetts snowplow driver is being praised for helping save the life of an older man who became trapped face-down in a deep snowbank during a winter storm Sunday night.
Matte McGarry was plowing roads near the Worcester–Auburn line when he noticed a pair of legs flailing from a snowbank along Burnett Street, according to a report by Boston 25 News. McGarry stopped his truck and pulled the man from the snow.
The incident occurred during Sunday night’s snowstorm as McGarry was making multiple passes along his route. At first, he couldn’t believe what he saw, he told the outlet.
“It looked fake — it didn’t seem real when I saw it at first,” McGarry told Boston 25. “I was doing my route, probably my third time around, when I was turning around and saw legs sticking out of the snow, pretty much just flailing.”
McGarry said the man had been walking home after watching the Patriots game when he fell headfirst into a snowbank about 3 feet deep.
“He couldn’t reach the bottom — the snow was really powdery — so he had no way of pushing himself back out,” McGarry told the news outlet. “It was scary.”
The man was face-down in the snow with his feet kicking as he struggled, McGarry said, adding that he appeared to be in shock and that his arms and face were freezing from exposure.
A nearby resident noticed the commotion and came outside to help McGarry bring the man to safety.
The man, who was not identified, told Boston 25 that McGarry saved his life and said he was “beyond grateful.”
McGarry is expected to receive a commendation from the Auburn Board of Selectmen, according to the report.
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