Deputy Jon Holt, Gloucester County Sheriff’s Department, Virginia, is being acknowledged as a hero and a hero is exactly what he is. The following story is a testament to sheer willpower when it comes to saving a life.
On May 7, 2021, Deputy Holt was responding to a report of an overturned vehicle with someone trapped inside, according to a statement from the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office.
“The driver was laying underneath the vehicle with her head pinned by the sunroof,” the report from the Sheriff’s office read. “Seeing the trauma her child was witnessing, Deputy J. Holt went into overdrive.”
Authorities shared part of Deputy Holt’s body camera footage, which captured the entire ordeal as he can be seen arriving in his vehicle before running toward the incident.
The driver’s daughter can be heard frantically yelling, “she can’t breathe, she can’t breathe, please help her.” The woman’s son can be heard crying and saying, “mommy.” Holt remained calm and coaxed the boy out of the car. “Come here buddy,” Holt said.
Officer Holt was heard saying, “She is trapped under the vehicle. I can’t get it off.” The screen then goes dark, but officer Holt can be heard straining and groaning loudly as he tries single-handedly to lift the car off the woman.
“Through sheer will and determination due to fearing the female may succumb to her circumstances in from of her panic-stricken child, Deputy J. Holt took quick action and was able to physically lift the more than 4,000-pound vehicle up long enough for the driver to maneuver her head out to safety,” read the statement from the Sheriff’s office describing the miraculous and heroic act.
“I tried to lift the vehicle off one time and said, ‘I can’t do it,’ “ he recalled. “I reverted back to my military training and that’s something that’s unacceptable, so I put my shoulder into the door frame, braced up and said, ‘all I have to do is just stand up.’ That’s what I just kept telling myself. I don’t know if it was adrenaline, sheer will, but I knew what I had to do.”
“It’s Mother’s Day weekend,” Holt said. “You can’t let a child see their mom pass away on Mother’s Day weekend or get seriously injured. You have to try. That’s our job, we have to do something.”
Deputy Holt’s quick action saved the woman from an almost certain tragedy. She had some bleeding and minor injuries but will be ok.
“It’s what we do,” said Holt. “It’s what we train for and I’m no hero. I’m just an average cop that gets put in extraordinary situations.”
According to Holt, the family’s dog was also in the SUV when it flipped over. The dog ran off, but thankfully it was found the next morning and was reunited with the mother and children.
But hold on, this isn’t the first time Deputy Holt has been proclaimed a hero. Just three months earlier, he was given the Top Cop Award for the region that serves the Virginia areas of Chesapeake, Hampton, James City County, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, York, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, Smithfield and Windsor, according to the Glousester-Mathews Gazette-Journal.
“Deputy J. Holt recently accepted both the local and regional Top Cop Award from the Greater Hampton Roads Regional Crime Line on February 2, 2021, for his commitment to public safety after saving the lives of 2 individuals from a burning house on the afternoon of March 24, 2020,” said the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office.
Officer Holt, we recognize your selfless and courageous actions in your everyday dealings with the public. Thank you for all you do to keep your community and its people safe.