Sunday, October 27, 2013

Soddy-Daisy man recovering after falling 70 feet from tree while chasing mountain lion

A man from Soddy-Daisy in Tennessee is in the hospital recovering after spending all day trapped in the woods, calling for help after a 70 foot fall from a tree on Tuesday. 33-year-old Jason Newman told rescue workers he was chasing after what he says was a "mountain lion," when he climbed out on a tree and fell. Reports say he is lucky to be alive. He has several broken bones. His neighbor Brian Henry says rescue workers should be praised for navigating the rough terrain to get Jason off the ridge.
"It had to be at least half a mile, maybe even further," he said. Henry says it was at around 8:30pm on Tuesday night when he heard Newman, better known as 'Cuz,' yelling for help. It took him a minute to figure out the screams were coming from the ridge behind his house. "When you can only see 30 to 50 feet in front of you, it's hard to pick a direction on which way to go because you're trying to follow this man's voice, who ended up being way up there," says Henry.

Henry, along with Jason's cousin and girlfriend, made the long trek through briers and brush to find him. "We took off up the mountain and just kept listening for him." They found him in a clearing, screaming in pain. "He said that he saw a mountain lion and that he chased it and climbed up a tree," says Henry. Jason fell about 70 feet down the side of the ridge. "He was in a lot of pain." He fractured his back, broke an arm in two places, and broke his left femur and ankle. Rescue workers made the difficult climb.
It took them about two hours to get him down off the mountain. As far as Newman chasing a mountain lion, Henry says, "To me, that sound backwards. Usually, you see a mountain lion, you'd think the mountain lion would chase you up the tree." He is just glad Jason survived the fall. "I'm glad he's okay. And if his story's true, I don't recommend chasing a mountain lion," says Henry. Newman's cousin says he was in surgery on Wednesday and is expected to recover. Newman never said why he was chasing the animal. But he was most likely chasing a bobcat, not a mountain lion.



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