Man suffers hypothermia after spending 15 hours in car stuck in drainage ditch

LOWER BURRELL, Pa. — Late Monday night, Michael Tutolo noticed lights on the Hill Crest Country Club Golf Course — but it didn’t seem unusual.

“There’s always people riding quads, and other things so I kind of didn’t think too much of it because the lights went away,” Tutolo said.

Tuesday morning, when he went to take his dog, Oliver for a walk, he went to see if it was a quad that got stuck.

He quickly realized it was an SUV.

“We see the car and I try to go, I couldn’t, there was all ice all around it,” Tutolo said. “Couldn’t open the doors. It was all fogged up, but he was going crazy barking. So I figured somebody must be there.”

Tutolo made his way back home and called 911.

“He was lucky he was seen when he was,” said Deputy Fire Chief Scott Gloer.

Firefighters had a tough time at first getting to the man, who is in his mid-80s, because of the hilly ground and all of the ice.

“His car was running for a while but when we got there the car was either out of gas or shut off. But, he was definitely showing signs of hypothermia,” Gloer said.

Firefighters said the man didn’t have a cell phone, so he couldn’t call anyone for help after getting stuck.

They had to break a window to get the man to safety, and then had to use a rope and a sled to get him up the hill to a pickup truck, which then took him to an ambulance.

He was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, but there’s no word on his current condition.

“I’m glad we went down through there,” Tutolo said.

Firefighters said the man was wearing a winter coat — which may have saved his life as the temperatures overnight were between five to 10 degrees.

Gloer said it’s a good reminder to always be prepared.

“Carry blankets in your car, let people know where you’re going, when you’re going to be back,” he said.

Gloer said it’s unclear how that man ended up driving on the golf course and getting stuck.

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