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Good Samaritans who helped woman pinned under truck speak exclusively to Action News Jax

Action News Jax spoke with two men who saved a Jacksonville woman who was pinned under her truck after a crash.

“I felt like I didn’t have a choice,” said Brandon Denmark.  “It was a life-or-death situation, so it was either 'This lady is going to suffocate and die or do what we can do to save her.'”

Denmark and Jared Whitcher are thankful they were in the right place at the right time.

“It looked like a bunch of dust, but then realized it was somebody flipping through the median,” Denmark said.

It was Ja'net Bauer, after troopers said her right rear tire blew, and she lost control on I-10 near State Road 23 on Thursday.

The impact that left Bauer pinned underneath the truck.

Denmark said he broke the window and crawled in.

“I said, 'Ma’am can you breathe?’ And I heard a faint, ‘No,’ like she was running out of air, so I figured I had no choice.”

Denmark said a man on the scene warned against flipping the truck, saying it could make her injuries worse.

But they -- and two other men -- started lifting, believing it was the only way to save her.

“We flipped the truck over,” Denmark said.  “And when we did, you see her she had this big breath of air.”

From there, they were able to get Bauer out, and rescue crews rushed her to a hospital.

Denmark and Whitcher aren’t sure what came over them in those moments of panic.

“Split second decisions that happened to be good ones,” Whitcher said.

“I don’t know what kicked into gear or what made me jump in there, but whatever it was it’s nice to know that she’s alive,” Denmark added.

Doctors said remarkably, Bauer doesn't have injuries from the neck down, and they expect a full recovery.

She and her family want to meet every person who helped her that day.