When a tow-truck driver was trapped beneath a tire of his truck in February, it wasn't an ambulance or the police that saved him. Instead, it was 6-foot-3 University of San Francisco lineman Danous Estenor who rescued the man.
"I just see his legs," Estenor told the St. Petersburg Times. "The car is crushing him. He's not moving. I'm thinking, 'Oh, God, this guy is going to die.' I tried to lift the car, and when I first tried, it didn't budge. I backed up. I don't know. But I felt this energy come, and I lifted it. I don't know how, but somebody pulled him from the car."
Estenor, a child of Haitian immigrants, lifted the car, which weighed about 3,500 pounds, saving Pedro Arzola's life, as Arzola's wife, Maria Uribe, looked on.
"I don't think we would have gotten [the car] up if it wasn't for him," Marcus Baker, one of the men who helped lift the car, said. "It's like it was meant to happen. I still remember him. Every time I see him, I'm like, 'How did you pick up a car?'"
The 195-pound lineman then walked away from the truck and into the cafeteria. The 21-year-old told his roommates he couldn't believe it, and his teammates didn't quite believe Estenor until head coach Skip Holtz called Estenor a "real hero" in front of the team.
"I always feel good when I do a good deed, to help somebody in any kind of way. Small or big, as long as I can make a difference, I feel good about it," Estenor said.
Uribe said she's thankful Estenor was there because if he hadn't been, her husband might not still be alive.
