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Video shows bystanders rushing to rescue motorcyclist pinned under car

The group of citizens and officers manages to lift a more than 1,000-pound car off a motorcyclist

Johanna Chisholm
Thursday 02 June 2022 18:41 BST
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Onlookers and police officers lift car off trapped motorcyclist after collision

A nerve-wracking video from South Carolina captured the stress-inducing moment that a motorcyclist driving on the road beside a stretch of beach got pinned underneath a car and a group of good Samaritans rushed to his rescue.

In the video, a motorcyclist with a woman riding on the back can be seen riding down a stretch of road close to the shoreline in Myrtle Beach. The motorcycle can then be seen beginning to approach an intersection near Ocean Boulevard when a car driving close behind knocks the back of the bike and forces the passenger riding on the back to be thrown forward, over the handlebars and onto the ground, while the man operating the bike gets pulled under the hood of the car.

The passenger manages to escape the crash, while the biker remains stuck under the front of the black car. Almost immediately, several onlookers begin to surround the scene and assess how they can go about helping the stuck motorcyclist.

Officers from the Myrtle Beach Police Department then appear, and the group of ordinary citizens and uniformed officers begin lifting the 2,000-pound vehicle off the pinned biker, allowing him to escape to safety.

Local news outlet WPDE later identified the man in the vehicle who pinned the biker beneath their car as 25-year-old Johnny Taylor. Taylor, according to the news outlet, was arrested by police after the incident for having an open container of beer or wine and for following behind another driver too closely.

Officers and bystanders in Myrtle Beach who saw a motorcyclist get pinned under a car rush to rescue the man by working together to lift the vehicle off his body. (Myrtle Beach Police Department)

The Myrtle Beach Police Department released the video late Tuesday night alongside a warning that “summer season is picking up” and that drivers should remember to “slow down” and “look twice”.

“It only takes a moment to cause a crash. As seen in the video, officers and onlookers lifted the car to release the person and get him to safety,” they wrote, before noting that both the passenger of the bike and the driver were both treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a nearby hospital.

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