DARLINGTON — A man trapped under the weight of a riding lawnmower last week was able to call 911 on his cellphone “before losing his ability to speak,” according to police.

Bryan Brice, 52, was mowing his lawn on East River Street in Darlington at about 11 a.m. May 31 when the mower rolled on an embankment and pinned him underneath.

Luckily, Brice had his cellphone on him and called for help as the weight of the mower began to asphyxiate him. 

He was unable to breathe or speak when Darlington Chief of Police Jason King and a state trooper responded to the call and pulled the mower off Brice just in time. He was transported by ambulance to Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County.

Brice is home and recovering, King told WISC-TV. King said Brice’s injuries in the long term are minor but the situation was extremely serious.

There are two lessons to learn from the accident, according to a post from the Darlington Police Department Facebook page.

First, always carry a cellphone while mowing: “This man is alive because his personal safety rule is to always have his cell phone with him while mowing, just in case.”

Second, “make sure your house numbers can easily be seen by emergency personnel. ... Residents should have large numbers (not letters) that are easily discernible from the street.

“The goal is for emergency responders to be able to see the numbers immediately without having to search for them,” the post stated. “Valuable seconds” were lost in the response to Brice’s mower accident “because we couldn’t see the house numbers.”