California Teen Lifts Truck Off Father

An Oakdale family is praising their teenage son for helping free his father after being trapped underneath the truck they were working on. Matthew Wilkinson said despite getting home late on what should have been a normal Monday night, he couldn’t put off working on the brakes on his work truck. The father and son were working on the truck, something they have done many times before.

This time, however, the rotor was stuck. Matthew said “I couldn’t get a good angle, so I slid my body underneath the truck and was hitting it. The second it popped off, the truck fell. I know it rolled forward because I saw it roll forward and it fell right on top of me. All I could think about was the breath coming out of me. I was just squished. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t yell.”

Dalin Wilkinson, 15, a freshman at Oakdale High School said “It just dropped right on him. I was scared. I heard him make a noise like his soul was leaving his body. It was crazy. I just ran over and tried as hard as I could to get it up enough to get him out.” The family’s home security camera captured the terrifying moment.

Dalin admits he didn’t know what to do at first before he ran to the back of the truck and tried to lift it enough to get his father out. The accident left Wilkinson with a punctured lung, broken ribs and a separated shoulder. The pair regularly work on vehicles together with no issues but he’s thankful his son was there. ‘My son is my hero. He saved my life” Wilkinson said.