A 28-year-old fisherman named Joe Little was alone on the Hammond Marina jetty in Astoria, Oregon, early Saturday when a boulder he had sat on before shifted and toppled onto him. He ended up pinned below the high tide line, hands trapped, with nobody around to hear him call for help. What he did next is the reason he’s alive: his Bluetooth earbuds were still connected, so he spoke out loud and asked Siri to call 911.
Warrenton police and fire crews responded, but finding him wasn’t easy. They honked car horns so a dispatcher could pinpoint his location by sound, and a drone spotted him in about three minutes with only part of his upper body and his feet visible. Crews then removed smaller rocks beneath him to free him before a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter hoisted him to safety. He’s now hospitalized in Portland with severe facial injuries, including a broken jaw. His grandmother, Kelly Simonson, told reporters his face was smashed and called it a miracle that her grandson survived.
The story is a reminder of two things at once: how quickly a routine morning on the rocks can turn dangerous, and how a piece of technology most of us take for granted can become a lifeline. It’s also a nudge for anyone heading out to fish alone. Have you ever thought about what your emergency plan would be if your hands were pinned and your phone was out of reach?
