IDA, Mich. -
A 15-year-old is being hailed as a hero for saving his grandfather's life. Police say the Ida teen lifted a car off of his grandfather after it fell on top of him.
On Saturday, Austin Smith and his 74-year-old grandfather, Ernest Monhollen, or Papa Ernie, were working together on a '91 Buick Century. The car was propped up on cinder blocks.
Austin says he was inside the car pumping the brake pedal. His grandfather was underneath, when something suddenly went wrong.
"I was just so scared," remembers Austin. "I didn't know what to do."
Austin says he felt the car shift while he was inside. Moments after he got out, it fell, trapping his grandfather underneath.
Austin says, "All I could think of is getting the car off him, and that's what I did."
He lifted the front end of the car, giving his grandfather just enough room to crawl out.
The car had landed on Ernest's face, breaking his jaw and knocking out some teeth, but he was alive.
"Thank God he was here, because if it was just me and his grandmother, it would have been over," Ernest says.
Austin says he still doesn't know how he did it.
"I have no clue," he says, "probably all the adrenaline. I mean, I couldn't do it right now. "
Needless to say, his grandfather will be forever grateful.
"He's a wonderful young man," Ernest says. "That's all I can say."
Papa Ernie is a little bruised up, but other than that he is doing well.
Austin's heroic action is just another example of people not knowing what they're capable of until they have no other choice.
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