Good Samaritans rescue man after tree pins him in trailer

Anyone who saw Lon Peruzzi’s trailer in Woody’s Mobile Home Park after the storm last Thursday evening blew a huge tree down on it would likely have to agree that (1) the Good Lord was looking out for him and (2) he is fortunate that James Edwards and Michael Owens heard him hollering for help.

Lon was sitting at his computer desk about 6:30 p.m. with his six-month-old pup, Skeeter, at his feet when the tree came crashing down missing his head by about six inches and pinning him in his chair.

The storm caused the city to cancel the scheduled T-Ball game so James was heading home when he saw the tree. Out of curiosity, he stopped. He said it was raining so hard he couldn’t hear anything, so he stuck his head in the trailer and “asked if he was in there.” He heard Lon say that he was.

That’s when James said he dialed “emergency services.”

Shortly thereafter, Michael was heading home. When his girlfriend, Racheal Bailey, saw the tree laying on the house and said, “That doesn’t look right,” he turned around and went back.

Michael said, “I parked behind James truck and heard Lon say, ‘I’m in here.’ ”

James went to the east end of the trailer and broke a window, but couldn’t see Lon.

Michael went to the door the tree had smashed and doesn’t remember just how he got by it to get to Lon. He does know that his slight frame let him slip into the tight space.

The first order of business was to get Lon’s dog, Skeeter, out. He said that Lon told him, “Don’t leave me.” Michael said he replied, “I won’t leave you.”

Michael said Lon told him, “If you can get this wall off me, I can crawl out.”

Michael tried to lift the wall and it wouldn’t budge. He said he tried again, found a little burst of energy and got the wall to move. Michael later said, “I don’t know where I found the strength.”

By then, the El Dorado Springs police and the Citizens Memorial Hospital/Cedar County Ambulance crew had arrived. The ambulance took Lon to Cedar County Memorial Hospital then CCMH sent him on to a Joplin hospital to get an MRI. That revealed Lon had a fractured T-12 vertebrae. By Monday, June 6, he was back in El Dorado Springs sore, with a back brace and waiting to get into another mobile home.

This week, everyone is thankful for the way a potential tragedy turned out.