Wondering if it will be possible to get out alive, James Lopez struggles to get out from under the crushing weight of his 3000 lb. Honda Accord. He hears the terrified screams from Octavia Escamilla calling for help, but no one is around to save him. What seems like an eternity instead of mere seconds pass by as James attempts to lift the car off of himself in failed, vain attempts. Just when he is sure it will be the end, the pressure releases as a few hikers and Octavia lift the car off of him. Today is not his last.

On August 16, juniors James and Octavia headed to Palo Duro Canyon State Park for a day of hiking and to marvel at the canyon, but by the end of the day James was in  Northwest Texas Hospital. James was smashed under his car while trying to fix a flat tire and ended up with several injuries to the head including two fractures in his skull, a subdural hematoma between his brain and skull, an epidural hematoma between his skull and skin, broken sinuses, slight lost of hearing in his right ear, and several broken facial bones in his cheeks. 

“The jack wasn’t working and James stuck his head under the car,” Octavia said. “The jack broke and the car fell on his head. I thought that [my] best friend was going to die.”

James was under the car for 30 to 40 seconds before Octavia and the hikers were able to lift the car off of him.

“When it happened I instantly started screaming and felt hopeless,” James said. “I felt that this could be it. You always read about young kids who die, and I thought I was going to be one of them.”

James said that he never lost consciousness while the hikers put him in their car and drove to the top of the canyon. From there an ambulance took him to the hospital where he stayed for eight days.

“I feel lucky that there were people there to help us,” Octavia said. “I appreciate life [more now than I did before the accident]. You can never be too careful.”

James said that if he was able to see the hikers again he would thank them because without them he wouldn’t have made it out from under the car alive.

“I think of all the outcomes in which things could have played out,” James said. “[The accident] makes me realize that you can’t hold back. You have to live in the now.”