Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office releases video of deputy lifting car to free pinned woman

UPDATE: The woman involved in this crash has been charged by Virginia State Police. Click here to read more.

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) — A Gloucester County deputy is being recognized by the sheriff’s office after he recently went into “overdrive” and lifted a flipped vehicle enough to free a pinned woman.

The Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office released the video of the May 7 crash Tuesday morning on Facebook.

The video is about a minute long and comes from Deputy J. Holt’s body camera as he attempted to save the pinned woman.

The video shows Holt driving up to the scene of the flipped car, then running to the wreck. A child was in the car with the woman and another woman was outside the vehicle crying. The woman on the outside explained to Holt how the woman was pinned underneath the car by the sunroof.

As of 11 p.m. Tuesday night, the video had more than 1,200 reactions, 36,000 views and nearly 250 comments.

The sheriff’s office added that Holt was previously recognized in February for saving two people from a burning house in March 2020.

The sheriff’s office wrote on social media: “The Gloucester Sheriff’s Office would like to again recognize Deputy J. Holt on another unbelievable incident that occurred on May 7, 2021. As many know, Deputy J. Holt recently accepted both the local and regional Top Cop Awards from the Greater Hampton Roads Regional Crime Line on February 2, 2021 for his commitment to public safety after saving the lives of 2 individuals from a burning house on the afternoon of March 24, 2020. He wasn’t done! On May 7th, Deputy J. Holt responded to an overturned vehicle with an entrapment. The driver was laying underneath the vehicle with her head pinned by the sunroof. Seeing the trauma her child was witnessing, Deputy J. Holt went into overdrive. Through sheer will and determination due to fearing the female may succumb to her circumstance in front of her panic-stricken child, Deputy J. Holt took quick action and was able to physically lift the vehicle up enough for the driver to maneuver her head out to safety. The GCSO would like to share a portion of Dep. J. Holt’s body camera video as it captured this tremendous act.”