Larry Pickett Sr.

Larry Pickett Sr. helped rescue David N. Denton from electrocution, Fort Montgomery, New York, August 31, 2025. Denton, 65, was semiconscious inside his sport utility vehicle after it left a roadway and struck a utility pole, causing the pole and power lines – the primary line having more than 12,000 volts and a secondary line carrying more than 200 volts – to fall onto the vehicle and roadway. Pickett, 46, business owner, was driving with his family nearby and parked near the wreckage. Seeing Denton semiconscious inside the vehicle, Pickett and his son, 20, advanced toward the scene, both stepping over a downed power line in the roadway on their course to the car, where there were flames burning at the exterior of the passenger side. Reaching the driver’s door, Pickett opened it, despite power lines on the vehicle and signs of electrical arcing beneath it. Leaning his upper body inside, Pickett reached Denton’s seat belt and was able to remove it on the fourth attempt. Pickett’s son then also reached inside and, together, Pickett and the son freed Denton from the vehicle. Pickett tripped and fell to the ground next to the car, coming within inches of one of the downed lines. He quickly stood and, with his son, carried Denton across the road and laid him down in a grassy area. Flames grew to envelop the vehicle seconds later. Firefighters extinguished the blaze from a distance out of caution for the live power lines. The power was later shut off remotely. A fire chief at the scene and an electrical engineer later consulted about the incident both agreed that the car’s exterior and surrounding area should have been electrified under the circumstances, and could not explain how Pickett, his son, and Denton avoided electrocution. Denton suffered abrasions and was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he was treated and released. He recovered. Pickett was uninjured.