Man rescued after serious ankle injury during Switzer Falls hike; iPhone SOS feature played key role

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A family hike in the Angeles National Forest took a frightening turn when the father suffered a serious ankle injury, but fortunately, he had plenty of help, including his wife and a life-saving feature on an iPhone.

It happened Sunday evening at Switzer Falls. The man was hiking with his wife and their two young children. He was carrying their dog when suddenly; he fell and seriously injured his ankle.

That's when his wife used the iPhone's SOS feature to get help.

Mike Leum with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Search and Rescue Reserve said he and his team received the message and immediately responded.

They were met by the injured man's frantic wife, who had hiked back to the parking lot of the trail to lead the team to her husband and two children, who were roughly a mile away.

"Two of us went running down the trail, got to where dad was, a firefighter was there also and we treated dad for his ankle injury," said Leum. "The ankle was seriously deformed, so it was either dislocated or broken, but he could not put any weight on it."

Rescue crews knew the clock was ticking during the dramatic rescue. The frigid river water caused the injured man to slip into hypothermia.

Rescue crews said thanks to the feature, they were able to get the family's exact GPS location.

"If you don't have cellular service, it will ask you if you want to place an SOS call via satellite," explained Steve Goldsworthy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue. "You say yes, answer a couple of questions, and instantly, a text message is sent directly to the responsible agent anywhere in the United States. This saves a tremendous amount of time and of course, if we talk about the golden hour in trauma."