Emotional Reunion for Crush Victim and Clyde, NC, Firefighter
By Aarik Long
Source The Mountaineer, Waynesville, N.C. (TNS)
Jul. 21—Just over two-and-a-half months ago, the life of one Clyde man changed forever in the parking lot of Clyde Central United Methodist Church.
On May 7, Matthew Dailey was doing an oil change on his Ford Focus in the church's parking lot.
"I had everything I needed. All my safety stuff was there. The jack was a piece of garbage, and it gave out. From the waist up, I was under the car," Dailey said.
The following minutes and hours were crucial in saving Dailey's life. Clyde firefighter Brandon Cox was quickly on scene.
"We had a great response. But time was of the essence. It was making decisions off of time and training," Cox said.
Cox threw auto cribbing under the vehicle, used a stabilization strut to stabilize the vehicle and then grabbed the jaws of life to lift the car off Dailey.
Having that equipment available was crucial for making the save.
"We're fortunate to have really good tools on these trucks," Cox said. "We have a board that is very pro-buying tools. It's all about budget. We lost some budgeting due to the flood, but we're still pushing to get more tools to be able to do stuff with this."
When he pulled Dailey out from under the car, he had no pulse and wasn't breathing.
"The reason he went into cardiac arrest was because of suffocation," Cox said. "The car was on his lungs, and he couldn't expand his lungs."
Normally, during a traumatic arrest, something like a gunshot wound or a car falling on someone, firefighters don't attempt CPR, leaving that to EMS, Cox said.
But this instance was different.
"I just made that call," said Cox, who is also a licensed EMT. "There are just calls we do sometimes where we make those calls. He wasn't bleeding anywhere. It all ran through my head in that second of 'This isn't a traumatic arrest. I'm going to do everything I possibly can.'"
That decision could be the reason that Dailey is still here.
"He could've been a jackass and said, 'I'm not going to do everything. I'm going to wait for EMS to get here and do what they do.' But the outcome would have been a lot different," Dailey said.
After Dailey was stabilized on the scene, he was transported to Mission Hospital by the man who pulled him out from under the car.
"I drove him in and made up some time," Cox said. "I was the first person to touch him, so I was going to be the last person to touch him going into the ER."
"They both need to be back there doing stuff simultaneously, so a firefighter will drive them to the hospital," Cox said.
Once he was there, the long road to recovery began. Dailey was in a drug-induced coma for three-and-a-half weeks. That was followed by two more weeks in the hospital.
"There's still a lot further to go. They told me a lot of times in the hospital that I shouldn't be here," Dailey said.
He said that he was told he had died twice, once in the ambulance and once at the scene.
"I guess I'm a cat now that I have more than nine lives," Dailey joked.
Monday night, Cox was recognized at the Clyde Fire Department with a SAVE award from the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
The firefighter is an experienced member of the crew in Clyde, having previously served in Asheville.
"He got a lot of his training with the City of Asheville, and he brought that training here and helps us with it," Clyde Fire Chief Wentfard Henson said. "It is an honor to serve with those folks, knowing the skills they've got. To get him out from under that car, that's real skill. It takes training."
Before the ceremony began, Cox was sitting in the bay of the fire station. Then, those gathered for the evening came around the back of the building and into the bay door.
"I was like, 'What are all of these people here? We're just doing training tonight,'" Cox said.
As Dailey rounded the corner, the firefighter realized what was going on.
It was an emotional evening for both Cox and Dailey.
"For me personally, it's huge," Cox said. "I'm going on 21 years of this. You get to save lives, but in this type of call, you don't get to see that type of outcome. Personally, it's huge for my well-being and mental state knowing that something we did, did something. We do this to help, but helping doesn't always help."
For Dailey and his fiancée, Alisha Smith, it was a chance to show their appreciation.
"It's a job for you, but it's more than you guys doing a job for me. If you guys weren't doing your job, I wouldn't be here," Dailey said.
Cox also pointed to the significance of the evening for the younger, less experienced firefighters.
"It pushes them to want to get more specialized training to do something like that. That takes training and repetition to be able to do it and not think about it," Cox said.
For Dailey, the incident changed his entire life — and thus, changed his perspective on life.
"Everybody takes life for granted," he said. "You get used to doing what you're doing. 'Oh, I'm OK. Nothing's going to happen.' It's a split-second, and everything changes."
Now, Dailey and Smith face the challenge of rebuilding their lives that have been altered so heavily. Dailey has been out of work since the accident, and Smith is on disability.
"Eight hundred bucks a month doesn't go far," Dailey said.
But the two are leaning heavily on one another. Dailey said when he woke up from the coma, Smith was tickling his feet, knowing that he is extremely ticklish.
"If it wasn't for her, I would've probably let them just pull the plug on it. She was there every day," Dailey said. "She made it a lot easier. I don't want to be here, but I fought through it, and I'm getting better."
And that recovery is continuing every day.
"I can't tell you what's going to happen next week, but I know tomorrow is going to be a little better than today was," Dailey said.
"And today was a whole lot better than two months ago," Smith quickly added.
The pair has a GoFundMe up to help cover bills and medical expenses following the accident. You can donate at www.gofundme.com/f/aid-needed-for-fiances-rehab-and-expenses.
© 2025 The Mountaineer (Waynesville, N.C.). Visit themountaineer.villagesoup.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
