Man’s leg crushed in tractor accident

COMANCHE COUNTY, Okla. An elderly Comanche County man narrowly escaped tragedy when he was run over by his own tractor in a bizarre accident.

Dennis Olson is in the hospital recovering from a broken leg. Friends and first responders say he’s extremely lucky that the outcome wasn’t much worse.

Dennis Olson was trying to jump start this tractor when it was thrown into gear, running him over and crushing his lower body. The tractor then slammed into the truck being used to jump it and left Olson at the front right bumper with a broken leg. Randy Smith had been working in a field nearby and lent Olson the jumper cables.

“Right here you can tell he drug himself right here. So, he was up here by the front of the truck, then he drug himself around to the driver’s side door and called 911,” said Smith.

Smith said he was too far away to hear if Olson yelled for anyone. He had no idea that his friend was hurt until he saw the ambulance.

“I see the ambulance coming hoping it wasn’t him. I thought it was going to the house,” Smith explained.

Smith ran toward the barn and saw Olson in the back of the ambulance speaking to paramedics and seemed to be in good spirits.

“I think it is a miracle. I think he is blessed. I’m grateful that he is not dead,” said Smith.

To be in his 70s and able to crawl to the other side of his truck right after being crushed by a tractor is feat of strength that Smith can only describe as “remarkably strong.”

First responders said Olson’s injury did not seem to be life-threatening.