CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. -- An 8-year-old boy is credited with saving his grandfather's life, after an ATV nearly crushed the man’s head in Fayette County last month.
Charles Murphy and his fiancée’s grandson, Timmy Leighty, were riding quads when Murphy misjudged a turn on a steep hill. Murphy’s vehicle flipped, rolled four times, and landed on top of him, Channel Four Action News’ Jennifer Miele reported.
“My head was down in the ground with the four-wheeler laying on me,” Murphy said.
Murphy told Miele the last thing he remembered before he blacked out was asking Leighty to lift the ATV from his head.
Somehow the 8-year-old managed to partially move the quad before he ran to get help from family members.
Murphy’s fiancée, Maureen Pritts, said when she heard what happened, she expected the worst.
“I heard the boys yell. He’s bloody! He’s bloody,” Pritts said. “I’m planning a funeral not a wedding. I thought he was dead.”
Murphy was rushed to Highlands Hospital in Connellsville. He suffered severe head injuries, but doctors said, if Leighty had not lifted the ATV to relieve the pressure, Murphy would have suffocated.
Leighty’s family presented him with a plaque, naming him “Pap’s Hero.”
“He saved my life,” Murphy said. “I thought I was going to die is what I thought I was going to do.”
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