‘The good Lord was with me’: Maury County man recalls being buried alive for almost 16 hours

MAURY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Maury County man is still recuperating more than five months after a 50-foot wall of dirt collapsed on top of him and the backhoe he was driving, trapping him for more than 15 hours.

According to the Maury County Fire Department, the cave-in happened around 11 a.m. on March 19 along Keg Springs Road in the Hampshire community.

David Golden, 54, remembers the day in great detail. The father of six and grandfather of two told News 2 he was out in a pit, loading up some chert rock for a friend.

He said he was close to the wall of the pit when, all of a sudden, the dirt came crashing down on him and his backhoe. The force was so great that the dirt reportedly broke the seat off the floorboard of the machine.

According to David, things immediately turned dark. The construction worker was immobilized from the neck down and there was a small space around his face. Though he couldn’t move most of his body and he couldn’t see, he could still breathe.

David said he had no idea how much dirt was on top of him, so he started trying to dig his way out with his right arm. However, every time he moved some dirt, more fell into his face, causing him to fear that he would be smothered.

The Maury County man told News 2 the roof of the backhoe was smashed, but it protected him from being completely crushed.

David said he had no idea how long he was buried alive, but he began to pray. He described himself as a religious man who had not been reading his Bible and praying as much as he could have, but in that moment, he believed God was communicating with him, urging him to get back on the path.

“I said, “You’re going to die right here today,’ so I started praying,” David recalled.

Around 11 p.m., Melody — David’s wife of 33 years — came to the pit and found the dump truck still running. She had not heard from David all day, so when she saw the scene of the collapse, she was scared that he was buried and perhaps dead.

Meanwhile, David said said he could hear his dump truck, which had been running all day long. When the engine cut off, he thought it had run out of fuel. However, Melody and her brother had actually moved the truck.

Melody said her brother jumped into the chert pit and meticulously combed through the dirt, looking for any signs of life in the darkness. Then, Melody’s brother found a small metal piece of the backhoe protruding from the dirt.

“If it wasn’t for my little brother, they would not know where to dig,” Melody told News 2.

“I heard him holler. He said, ‘He’s right here. He’s alive,'” David remembered.

David’s wife and brother-in-law called 911 and told an army of first responders exactly where to start digging roughly 12 hours after the cave-in.

Officials said multiple agencies were summoned to the site, including the Hohenwald, Lewis County, Maury County, and Spring Hill fire departments. By the end of the operation, dozens of rescue crews were on site, including volunteers and members of the Maury County Highway Department and Hohenwald Utilities, which brought in heavy equipment.

David said he knew he was saved the moment he saw that first flashlight and another human face: “I knew right then that I was God’s child. I was saved.”

According to David, he began praying for forgiveness for his sins while more rescue teams arrived.

Crews said they started digging with their hands and shovels and formed a “bucket brigade” to remove the dirt from the immediate area. After more than three hours, a skid steer and another backhoe joined the effort to move larger amounts of dirt, allowing the buried backhoe to be revealed. At that point, personnel decided to cut the roof off the buried backhoe to reach the trapped man.

Video from that night shows David in a stokes basket as a human chain passed him down the hill to a waiting ambulance, which took him to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center LifeFlight helicopter.

“I prayed three times for the good Lord to take me home because I was in so much pain,” David said. “I had the feeling come over me that someone was coming, that someone would be there.”

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David didn’t sustain any broken bones or internal injuries, but because of the immense pressure his lower body experienced for hours upon hours, he is currently wearing a brace and still has a lot of numbness in his legs.

The Goldens want every person who helped save David’s life to know how thankful they are.

“The good Lord was with me, and I was ready to go,” David explained. “When you think you’re going to die and you have peace and the presence of God with you…I told them when I come out, I said I’d do it again for that feeling.”

David told News 2 he will start driving his dump truck again as soon as he is able to do so. He is also excited to get behind the controls of another backhoe and even dig in the chert pit.

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