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Florida high school students hailed as heroes

Helped lift pickup off pinned woman
Posted at 10:03 AM, Feb 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-20 10:47:13-05

(WESH, CNN NEWSOURCE) Mark Gentry's wife Susan is still in the hospital; she's recovering after a remarkable rescue.

A bystander took a photo of a pickup moments after witnesses say a man drove over Susan in a crosswalk Thursday.

Witnesses say she pushed her young daughter out of the way.

"The tire was on her chest and it was suffocating her, Mark said.

Mark and others ran to help but couldn't quite lift the several thousand-pound truck until four Bishop Moore football players, who just so happened to also be on the weightlifting team, saw what happened and rushed to help.

They managed to lift the truck long enough to pull Susan to safety.

"Right place at the right time. There's a reason everything happens. Feels like a God moment you know what I mean?" said Mario Hernandez, one of the rescuers.

"If these football players didn't step in when they did, what do you think would have happened?" Mark was asked.

"I don't want to say what would have happened. We all know it would have been a totally different story," he answered.

Mark says his wife had surgery Friday and is out of the trauma unit, suffering a fractured pelvis and several bruised ribs but no internal injuries.

He said she doesn't remember the accident, but wants to thank the young men family members are calling heroes.

"She knows they saved her life," Mark said.