Powerlifter lifts vehicle off man trapped underneath after accident

YPSILANTI, Michigan — A local powerlifter is being hailed as a real-life superhero after his quick actions helped save a man pinned under a rolled over vehicle.

Ryan Belcher works out and trains at the gym 5 days a week. It’s his life, and a place he credits for giving him extra strength on a day he needed it the most.

“I just lifted and started pushing the vehicle as hard as I could,” Belcher said.

Belcher isn’t your normal powerlifter.

“What’s weird is it’s easier for me to not know the weight,” he said.

It was around 4:30 Thursday afternoon when Belcher heard something outside his workplace on the 2600 block of Michigan Avenue in Ypsilanti.

“I just hear a big smash and, as I look out, a crowd of people is coming and this vehicle is flipped upside down and my first instinct was to just take off out there,” he said.

A crumbled Jeep lay on its roof and just a few feet away from a car with front end damage.

“As I approached the one vehicle in the middle of the lane, she was awfully bloody and I made sure she was okay and she responded with yes I’m okay,'” Belcher said.

Ryan’s attention then turned to the man trapped under the Jeep, begging for help.

“Half of his torso was outside of the vehicle and the other half was still underneath in the vehicle. I had no other choice. It was either save a man or not believe in myself. So I just reached in did what I had to do,” Belcher said.

He says what happened next can only be described as, “Okay, this is where I need to be. This is all the power I’ve used, all the training I’ve been through, this is the time where it’s really going to pay off in a good way to help somebody,” he said.

The two drivers involved in the crash suffered serious injuries, but no fatalities were reported. If Ryan didn’t take action who knows what would have happened.

One thing is for sure, superheroes are among us disguised as everyday people.

“I like being called the Hulk, my son’s favorite is the Hulk and he always says my daddy is the Hulk. To say I’m a hero, I don’t know. I’m glad to have been there and I was put there for a reason,” he said.

Ryan says he’s grateful he didn’t freeze when lives were at jeopardy, and for being in the right place at the right time.

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