BELLEVILLE, IL. (THECOUNT) — An Illinois man was transported to the hospital after being rescued from a tree in Belleville Wednesday morning.
According to the Belleville Fire Department, the man became stuck in the fork of a tree about 4 feet off the ground, after being chased by a dog around 8 p.m. Tuesday.
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The man reportedly pulled himself into a tree while trying to escape a dog when his knee became stuck and cut off the circulation. The unidentified victim could not feel anything from the knee down.
A woman found the 38-year-old, who was not wearing a coat and was about 4 feet off the ground, around 6:45 a.m. and contacted first responders.
“Due to the fact there was no circulation from the knee down, the decision was made not to free him from the tree until he could be transported immediately to surgery in order to try and save as much of the leg as possible. A battery-operated rescue tool spreader that we use on car accidents was used and required the tree to be spread 4 inches to remove his knee,” the fire department posted on Facebook, reports KMOV.
After being rescued, the man was airlifted to a St. Louis hospital for treatment. Authorities said the man could lose his leg or foot as a result of the incident.
In their Facebook post, the fire department thanked Tour de Belleville participants because the UTV that was used during the rescue was bought with proceeds from the 2018 race.
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Geo quick facts: Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, coterminous with the now defunct Belleville Township. The population was 41,290 according to the Census Bureau’s 2018 estimates – Wikipedia.