Man Cut Seat Belt With Case Pocket Knife to Save Woman From Drowning

An Arkansas woman is lucky to be alive after her car crashed through a guard rail, overturned, and landed in a gully. Trapped by her seat belt and upside down, the woman struggled to keep her head above the water. The incident unfolded on July 17th in Paragould, Arkansas and could have ended tragically had it not been for a man and his pocket knife.

Passers by Chad Speer and his wife noticed the mangled guard rail and spotted an overturned car. “I helped one lady that was in need and I was glad to do it.” Speer told Arkansas’ ABC/NBC Affiliate Region 8.

“She was already pretty tired from trying to get out and stay out of the water. She very well could have.. an inch or two more water and she would have for sure,” Speer said.

Cut Seat Belt With Case Pocket Knife

Speer told KnifeNews he used his Case Yellow Trapper pocket knife to cut the seat belt and extricate the woman from the car.

Yellow Case Trapper

“One of the ways a knife can be a useful tool is to help out in an emergency situation – it’s not the reason you hope to use it but an important reason to carry one everyday” said Fred Feightner of W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co., maker of the knife. “Incidents like this happen more often than you might want to believe”.

On Friday, Speer became the first recipient of the Greene County Sheriff Heroes Award.


KAIT Jonesboro, AR – Region 8 News, weather, sports