Teen Crushed In Minivan Makes Harrowing 911 Call Before Dying: ‘Tell My Mom That I Love Her’

Kyle Plush tried to retrieve tennis equipment in his parked Honda Odyssey minivan and somehow ended up dead. The Cincinnati teen, 16, was found pinned under the vehicle's third-row bench, which compressed his chest and caused him to die of asphyxia, according to CNN.

After becoming pinned, Plush was able to call 911 twice using Siri on his phone, telling authorities that he was in "desperate need of help” at around 3:15 PM. According to CNN, Plush and the operator had trouble hearing each other, and the call ended after Plush said, "If you don't send help I'm gonna die soon."

Cops searched the parking lot of his Seven Hills School, but they were unable to initially locate the victim. The search lasted for 11 minutes until they closed the incident.

A little after 3:20 PM, two minutes before officers ended the search, Plush called 911 again. His voice was faint, but he was able to give information about his location.

“I probably don’t have much time left, so tell my mom that I love her if I die,” he said. “This is not a joke. This is not a joke. I’m trapped inside my gold Honda Odyssey van in the sophomore parking lot of Seven Hills [unintelligible]. Send officers immediately. I’m almost dead.”

In the recording, there is no response from the 911 operator. Later that night, Plush's father found him using a location-finding app, according to Time. At approximaitely 9 PM, 911 dispatchers received a call that Plush had been found in the Honda Odyssey.

An investigation has been launched into what happened. The 2004 Odyssey has three rows of seating, with bucket seats in the first two rows and a bench seat in the back. One source tells the Cincinnati Enquirer that the minivan's seat flipped up and over toward the back hatch, pinning Plush upside down beneath the seat. 

"The young man was trapped in the third row bench seat, and it is called positional asphyxiation," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters said, according to WCPO. "We are actively trying to identify experts to assist in us in this investigation."

The dispatcher who received Plush's second 911 call, identified as Amber Smith, did not convey the information he provided to officers on the scene, according to police. 

"Something has gone terribly wrong," said Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "We need to find out why."

He noted it could have been equipment issues or human error. Smith has been placed on administrative leave. She has been a dispatcher since 2014.

[Photo: Getty Images]