Indiana State Police release body cam video of Matt Reum rescue from wrecked pickup truck
MISHAWAKA, Ind. (CBS) -- Indiana State Police on Monday released their body camera footage of the rescue of Matt Reum – who was trapped in a wrecked pickup truck under Interstate 94 in Portage, Indiana, for six days last month.
The body camera video gives a slightly different perspective of the first responders, as they worked for nearly an hour and a half to free him.
On Dec. 26, two fishermen – Mario Garcia and Nivardo Delatorre – had come down to the rapids of Salt Creek to find a suitable place to go fishing that Tuesday afternoon. They found Reum's smashed pickup truck, discovered he was still alive, and quickly called 911.
Reum. 27, told Garcia and Delatorre he had been stuck in the wrecked pickup truck for six days. Reum drank rainwater to survive during his six-day ordeal, and used his deployed airbag as a blanket when temperatures dropped.
Body cam video from the Portage Police Department also documents Reum's rescue from beginning to end. In one Portage police body cam video that lasts an hour and 22 minutes, first responders are seen working to get Reum out of the wrecked pickup truck alongside Salt Creek using ropes and rescue equipment while giving him medical attention and IVs.
After more than an hour of maneuvering the wreck, first responders are seen completing the rescue as night falls. Reum is carried out of his crashed pickup onto a stretcher – visibly in pain – to safety.
Last month, Reum met the two fishermen who found him – as well as the Portage firefighters and paramedics who came to his rescue.
Reum had to have a leg amputated. He was released from Memorial Hospital in South Bend on Tuesday of last week.
Over this past weekend, Reum also shared photos taken with his father and aunt on Facebook. In a post on Saturday, Reum wrote:
"One month ago today I started my day with beautiful sunrises, fresh air, and huevos rancheros. I ended the day swerving in the fog trying to miss something, and started the longest 144 (roughly) hours of my life.
"I was tested, I was tried, I cried, and prayed. I had so many emotions, thoughts, wonders, and regrets cross my mind during those six days.
"A month later I'm out of the hospital. I'm out with the help of my family and I'm getting transitioned back into 'normalcy' I go to dinner and I get approached by some of y'all and I hear how much I've given you hope and it almost brings me to tears on how much I've impacted complete strangers. And I can't describe how amazing it makes me feel.
"I am nowhere near done healing, and I am constantly dealing with this new puzzle that is navigating life as an amputee. I have to think constantly on how I move my body so I don't fall or hurt myself.
"I'm missing a limb. But with the support and love from all of you, I feel like a whole person."
Indiana State Police have said Reum initially veered off the highway because he was simply trying to avoid hitting a deer.
