Meter reader rescues him

By Al Everson
Beacon staff writer

posted Jan 17, 2013 - 4:14:25pm

A disabled Deltona widower said a city employee walking through his neighborhood saved him from prolonged pain and probably saved his life.

As Deltonan Jack Hoyt was in his garage Jan. 3, making a routine check of the oil and water in his 1991 Cadillac, the hood of the car suddenly fell, trapping his right hand.

Hoyt, who was home alone, said the pain was excruciating when the hood latched in place, trapping his hand.

“It was so painful I started screaming. There was nobody in the homes that could hear me. I shouted, ‘Help! Help!’” Hoyt said. “I was in horrible pain, and I might have collapsed. I screamed so much I started getting weak.”

Unable to make his neighbors hear him, Hoyt somehow continued yelling. Finally, he said, after a 10- or 15-minute interval that seemed like eternity, a Deltona Water meter reader making his rounds heard the desperate calls for help and came into Hoyt’s garage.

“I’m 90 years old, and I’m not a young chicken anymore,” Hoyt said. “He got me out of it.”

Hoyt’s rescuer was Joe Falk, who has worked for Deltona Water for six years. The City of Deltona restricts interviews between the news media and lower-level municipal employees, but Lee Lopez, the city’s director of public information, provided an account of Falk’s response to Hoyt’s distress.

“He first thought someone was locked out of their house. That’s when he realized Mr. Hoyt was in trouble,” Lopez said. “He got into the car and opened the hood latch. Mr. Hoyt was still stuck, and he had to loosen an external latch.”

After freeing Hoyt’s hand between the hood and the top front of his car, Falk noticed the pain was not going away.

“It seemed as though everything was going in slow motion,” Lopez shared from Falk’s account of the incident. “He helped Jack to his wheelchair, bandaged his hand, and called 911. He said he was concerned Jack might go into shock from the pain.”

The Deltona Fire Department scrambled to the scene, and emergency medical personnel treated Hoyt.

“My fingers weren’t broken,” Hoyt said. “They were bloody. The skin peeled off them.”

He was delighted to learn the bones weren’t broken.

“Thank God for that,” said Hoyt.

He declined the medics’ suggestions to go to a hospital emergency room, and went to see his physician.

“The doctor ordered a nurse to come over,” Hoyt said.

Hoyt is also recovering from a hip injury he sustained in a fall last year. He spent time in a nursing home, where he received rehabilitation services.

Going forward, Hoyt is thankful Falk was within earshot of his home when he found himself in trouble.

“Thank God the garage door was open. This man was there reading the meter and saved my life,” Hoyt told The Beacon. “I think the city ought to give that guy credit. If he hadn’t helped me, I might have died.”

Asked if the City of Deltona will recognize or honor Falk for being a good Samaritan, Lopez replied, “Right now, there’s a discussion to see if there is something that we can do to recognize him at a City Commission meeting.”

— al@beacononlinenews.com

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