Student Flashes Peace Sign as He's Awaiting Rescue from Car Crushed Under Fallen Tree

Mar. 15, 2025

A University of Washington student survived a near-fatal incident in which a tree fell onto the roof of his car duringthe recent bomb cyclone that hit the Pacific Northwest.

“This was the scariest thing I ever experienced,” the driver, Tyson Ramirez, wrote in aGoFundMeas he is currently raising money to replace his damaged blue Hyundai.

According to Ramirez, he was driving down 35th Avenue in Seattle on the night of Nov. 19 while it was pitch black out.

Tyson Ramirez.King 5 Seattle

King 5 Seattle

As he approached an incline near 100th Street, he saw, through his windshield, the trunk of a tree falling onto the car.

“I slumped back and down in my seat at the very last second as it smashes through the roof, which caves in deeply but somehow just narrowly missed my head,” he wrote. “I was quick enough then to put the car in park and try to register what just happened.”

Ramirez told local NBC affiliateKINGthat the fallen tree left him pinned in his car and unable to get out.

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“I tried to open my driver’s side, no use,” Ramirez said. “The tree was totally horizontal on my car, pinning both the driver’s side and passenger side door, and I was stuck.”

Miraculously, Ramirez said he was not injured from the ordeal — adding that other people got out of their vehicles and homes to check on him and call 911.

While waiting for help to arrive, one of those people took a photograph of Ramirez flashing the peace sign from inside his car.

“She said, ‘Well do you want me to take your picture and her reasoning was you may never get to see this angle again,’ and at first, it threw me off, but she was right,” Ramirez recalled to KING.

“I was very happy to sleep in my bed that night,” Ramirez later wrote.

He also expressed gratitude following the scary experience. “Whether it be angels, whether it be God, the amazing firefighters, Squad 31, I was really blessed that night," said Ramirez, KING reported. “It was really a lot of shock, but also, even in the moment, as I was trapped, a bit of gratefulness to know I’m okay.”

As of Wednesday, Nov. 27, Ramirez’s GoFundMe has generated over $1,400.

PEOPLE contacted Ramirez for additional comment.

source: people.com