An Arizona pastor was hiking with his daughter when he stepped in front of an 8,000-pound boulder to save her life.
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20-year-old Annalee Barnett and her father, Luke, were hiking to raise money for victims of sexual abuse when the boulder started tumbling towards them. According to Inside Edition, Luke pushed his daughter out of harm’s way and was almost crushed to death shortly after. She says, “I was in front of the boulder, so he could have been fine, but he literally stepped in front of the boulder, pushed me out of the way. He tried to stop it with his hands, but it was just too heavy.”
In a video, Luke said his ribs, thigh bone, and forearm are broken and his groin was twisted in the rescue attempt, leaving him unable to walk.
“I’m just yelling, reaching back, trying to shove her out of the way as this boulder was kind of coming down on top of me,”
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He was airlifted to a nearby hospital and will spend a week in recovery while learning how to walk again with a broken hip.
The father-daughter duo was in the middle of completing their 800-mile hike on the Arizona Trail when the incident occurred. Annalee said she will complete a portion this Saturday and her father will accompany her on the final hike.