Dearborn, MI – A 19-year-old man was trapped in his car after a portion of a parking garage collapsed late Friday night.

The incident occurred around 8:15 p.m. at Outer Drive and Garrison. Crews from the Western Wayne Urban Search and Rescue Technical Rescue Team and local fire departments rushed to stabilize the structure and prevent further collapse.

Bodycam video from the scene shows rescuers moving concrete and carefully installing supports while communicating with the trapped man. “Just hollering in – he was able to respond back, so that’s how they were able to get the contact information and get ahold of him and not yell across the rubble,” said Asst. Chief Kelly Meister.

Meister added, “We train on cutting concrete. We train on crawling into these small spaces and installing these struts. It’s really just 4-by-4’s and paratech struts, and they’re rated to support certain amounts of weight depending on which strut you select. And they all have different lengths, and we have different rules we follow with the struts as far as how many we can use at a time.”

Dearborn Fire Chief Joe Murray said the call came in around 8:45 p.m. Officials are still investigating the collapse, with weather conditions possibly playing a role.

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