自行车事故他摔昏，苹果手表救了他

WCCA

SPOKANE — Bob Burdett was on his bike just before noon on Sept. 15, heading to meet his son for an afternoon of mountain biking at Riverside State Park.

He was several miles from his South Hill home and was going to be early for his 12:30 p.m. rendezvous with his son. As he coasted to the bottom of Doomsday Hill, Burdett, 62, approached a turn at a little more than 20 mph.

His bike veered right. His body flew left.

Then his helmeted head hit the ground so hard it knocked him unconscious — hard enough for his Apple Watch to feel it.

“A hit that hard could have killed me if I weren’t wearing it,” Burdett said. He had to replace the helmet.

Burdett was bleeding profusely above his left eye. His shoulder and some ribs were put out of place. Road rash extended from his elbow to his shoulder.

Burdett’s memory went black moments before the crash. Then he woke up in an ambulance on the  way to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center.

His Apple Watch had called 911 through the fall-detection feature, which sends out an alert if the wearer is immobile for 60 seconds after a fall.

His watch messaged emergency medical services at 12:02 p.m., and an ambulance was there within a minute.

Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said Burdett’s crash is the first instance he’s aware of in Spokane where an Apple Watch alerted 911 to a hard fall.

“I think it’s just another opportunity for the fire service to leverage technology and use it to improve people’s lives,” Schaeffer said.

Spokane Valley Fire Department spokesperson Julie Happy said dispatchers did not recall an instance where an Apple Watch had alerted medical personnel to an accident scene.

As opposed to social media or GPS tracking apps, Schaeffer said the Apple Watch fall-detection feature offers extra reassurance by not relying on a person to alert first responders.

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