SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- An 18-year-old former wrestler whose leg became pinned under his overturned Jeep managed to reach a car jack, ratchet up the vehicle and free himself.

As college freshman Clancy Wright lay trapped last week, he said he thought of the climber whose arm had been pinned by a boulder last spring.

"I didn't want to cut my leg off like the guy who cut off his arm," Wright said.

Wright was driving alone October 2 at a popular off-road area near Minersville, about 200 miles south of Salt Lake City, when his Jeep rolled, pinning his left leg under a corner of the windshield and part of a roll bar.

He was able to reach a jack in the vehicle.

He said he tried three times to find the right placement for it under the roll bar. Wright, who wrestled as a heavyweight last year in high school and took fifth place in his division, eventually was able to lift the Jeep.

"As the pressure released, I could feel the blood rush out of the leg," he told The Salt Lake Tribune in Thursday's editions.

The skin, muscle and tissue in his left calf, from the knee to the ankle, was torn from his leg bones, which were completely exposed but not broken, he said.

Wright said he wrapped the leg with his T-shirt, and a passing rider found him shortly afterward and summoned an ambulance. He underwent surgery and was sent home the next day.

 

that's scary/gross! I usually don't ever wheel alone, but sometimes I do. I bet he wasn't wearing his belt

 

Yeah I'll bet he would have been ok, had he been wearing his seat belt. That's pretty cool he was able to get himself out of it though.

 

that would suck. I go wheeling alone all the time, sometimes multiple times a week. But what am I supposed to do? Not go? lol, noone else wants to or can.

 

I think wheeling alone is ok, if you know all the trails you are riding are easy enough, or you are capable of doing without difficulty. I just dont think you should try something new or crazy without others present.