Teen’s iPhone Saves Her Life When She Falls Asleep And Crashed

A Pennsylvania teen’s life was saved by her iPhone 14, which automatically called 911 after she accidentally fell asleep while driving and crashed her truck, according to her family.

The incident occurred on Aug. 2 in Hadley after Lindsay Leskovac, 16, had dropped off a friend, her mother, Laura, tells PEOPLE.

She fell asleep in the driver’s seat, then crashed into trees and two poles close to some water, NBC affiliate WFMJ first reported late last month.

Unconscious and stuck inside, Lindsay awoke to the sound of a dispatcher trying to get her attention, Laura says now. No one else was injured.

“She was on the phone with them for 22 minutes then, telling them who she was, who we were, who her parents were and they were trying to locate her. She was very far off-road,” Laura says. “They were pinging her location to try to send the rescue workers to her.”

She attributes her daughter’s survival to the cell phone’s crash detection system, which if enabled can automatically summon first responders after a 30-second countdown if a user is unable to respond to an alert.

“Having this feature was what alerted them to her,” Laura says. “Otherwise we would have gotten devastating news that our daughter was found dead out in a field somewhere. So we’re just so blessed.”

Due to the severity of Lindsay’s injuries, every second counted in her rescue, according to her mom.

“One of the rescue workers told me that she would have died if the phone didn’t call 911, she would have bled to death,” Laura says, adding Lindsay had broken both of her femurs, along with her spine, neck, shoulder blade, right wrist and left foot, among other injuries.

“She was upside down in the vehicle, but she had her seatbelt on so she wasn’t ejected,” Laura explains.

Although Lindsay faces a difficult path to recovery, there has been progress: She was released from the hospital over Labor Day weekend, her mom says.

As Lindsay starts junior year, she won’t be able to participate on the tennis team or her high school’s dance line as she undergoes rehabilitation. Still, her family is trying to keep her spirits up.

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“She’s really positive. She’s just really thankful and blessed to be alive,” Laura says. “She said she knows she’s going to be out of those things for a while, but she’s just looking forward to what else life has in store for her.”

A GoFundMe to support her healing has already raised $18,000.