Cass County sheriff shows '13 Seconds' RapidSOS video, officials say crash-detection helped save motorist

The Cass County sheriff on Tuesday showed commissioners a 7-minute video titled “13 Seconds,” which the sheriff and dispatchers said demonstrates how an iPhone crash-detection alert routed through RapidSOS allowed emergency crews to locate and rescue a driver before his pickup was fully consumed by fire.

The sheriff told the board the crash-detection alert arrived through RapidSOS and that dispatchers were able to see the vehicle’s location immediately; a dispatcher in the video identified latitude and longitude coordinates and said units were dispatched “to May Street, west of Lakeview Drive.” A county official said the dispatcher had the location within 13 seconds of the alert arriving.

“Without RapidSOS, we would have sent them out there and they would have been having to look north, south, east, and west of that area as they were trying to find where it was,” a responder said during the presentation. Video shown to the board depicts first responders pulling the driver from a burning truck and using a fire extinguisher; staff said the cab was engulfed within seconds after the rescue.

A man who the board identified as the surviving motorist said he owed his life to the responders and to RapidSOS. “I owe them my life,” he said in remarks included with the presentation.

The sheriff said the county received the video’s official release that day and brought dispatchers before the board to recognize them; a RapidSOS representative attended the meeting and the sheriff invited commissioners to ask questions after the showing. Commissioners praised dispatchers and said they intended to share the video with township officials and the public.

The video and the panel’s account focused on the technology’s ability to provide a precise location quickly when a caller is incapacitated and cannot describe their position. County officials said they planned no formal action beyond the presentation; the showing was added to the agenda as item 14 and accepted by the board earlier in the meeting.

The sheriff and county staff said RapidSOS and dispatch procedures were factors in a rapid response that likely prevented a fatal outcome; the RapidSOS representative was present for questions following the presentation.