• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• Print

Two Lansing teens being called heroes after jumping into action Saturday when their uncle got stuck under a truck.

Anthony Sabella sat down with the boys Sunday, where we learned just how close this rescue came from becoming a tragedy.

One day later, tools still lay scattered just like they did when it happened.

"We hear this loud noise and my uncle, he groans,"says Juan Cabrera.

17-year-old Juan and 15-year-old Luis Cabrera were on their way home from a day of fishing, Saturday, when they stopped at their aunt and uncle's house in North Lansing.

Their uncle, Oscar Vera, was working on a car in the driveway.

"He was under the car working on it and I looked back and I saw the whole car on top of his body - it was just crushing him," says Luis.

Juan and Luis are not sure how, but while they were talking with their cousins in the backyard, the vehicle had fallen off of the carjack and onto their uncle, crushing part of his face, neck and chest. The boys frantically tried to figure out a way to help him.

"The only thing that came into my mind was to try to lift the truck up off him if we could, and so I pulled some off of his neck and then my brother hurried up as fast as he could to get the jack and we were screaming at my aunt to call 911," explains Juan.

After multiple tries, Luis was able to get the truck up with the jack, freeing Vera. Paramedics soon arrived to take him to the hospital, where he would be treated for bruised lungs and two broken ribs.

The Cabrera brothers, left as heroes.

"When it first happened, I didn't know what to think, but I'm glad we got him out and he's going to do better," says Luis.

And the boys' father says he's just thankful his sons were there to help.

"They jumped into action to help him out. They saved his life and I'm proud of them," says Juan Cabrera, Sr. 

When we spoke to the boys' mother earlier, she told us Oscar was doing much better on Sunday.