Man Fixing Pickup Injured When Truck Rolls onto Him

A Novato man was crushed by a brokenn-down truck that he had been working on in the parking lot of a Hamilton neighborhood Thursday afternoon, sources said.

Lt. Keith Heiden said the 44-year-old man was found pinned under a pickup truck at 3:25 p.m. at 84 Kelly Court, and paramedics took him to Marin General Hospital in critical condition. As of 7:30 p.m., he remained critical, Heiden said.

The man was trying to figure out a problem with the truck's transmission when the 1992 Ford rolled and trapped him underneath, Heiden said. The man's wife had heard a scream and went outside to find her husband's shoulder and neck wedged under a tire, Heiden said.

"There were a lot of people out there either trying to help or just witnessing," Heiden said. "I'm sure it was a horrifying thing to see."

The investigation is ongoing and it wasn't clear whether the man was under the truck or had fallen out of the truck, Heiden said. He said it was likely that the man screamed before he was pinned by the tire.

crews were notified of the incident at 3:29 p.m. Captain Steve White said the injured man was just a few blocks from the Hamilton station, which allowed the response to be about 2 minutes. He said paramedics, who found the injured man unconscious, asked another resident for a jack, and somebody quickly provided one from another truck.

The ambulance left Kelly Court and headed to the hospital at 3:41, a few minutes after the man had been freed, White said. The ambulance arrived at Marin General at 3:54.