An off-duty police officer helped save an elderly couple whose home was decimated by tornadoes in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, Tuesday morning.
Once the storms passed through their neighborhood, Nashville policeman Tyler Manivong and his wife, Sabrina, emerged from their hiding place to find extensive damage to their roof and water damage inside their home, according to the Tennessean.
The severe tornado that ripped through the area was later confirmed as an EF-3, according to News Channel 5.
Thankfully, the couple was unharmed but quickly realized that their neighbors had not been quite so lucky.
“We looked outside, looked at each other and said, ‘We gotta go!'” Tyler said when he saw how badly hit the homes around them were.
Moments later, he turned on his police radio and heard that an elderly couple down the street was trapped in their basement underneath heavy piles of rubble.
The couple instantly knew there was no time to waste.
Once they located the house, Manivong, along with another off-duty Metro police officer, a Wilson County reserve deputy, and two more first responders, used their bare hands to dig Bill and Shirley Wallace out of their basement.
As the men continued removing the debris, everyone was afraid it would fall through the basement ceiling.
“It felt like a human Jenga,” Manivong said.
Not long after, the policeman made eye contact with the Wallaces and introduced himself.
“I’m Tyler. I’m one of your neighbors, and I didn’t want to meet like this,” he told them.
With the help of their rescuers, the couple emerged from the three-foot hole with only some cuts and bruises.
“There was a higher being than us with us the whole time,” Bill said of the harrowing experience, adding that the off-duty officers were their heroes.
“That feels good,” Manivong said of the praise they received.
“But it doesn’t deserve acknowledgment. It should be second nature,” he concluded.
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