An Apple Watch a day keeps the reaper away.
Apple’s digital guardian angel has come to the rescue again: This time, a New York man claims that his wrist device saved his life by dialing 911 following a horrific bike accident that left him looking like a “monster.”
“I feel very fortunate and grateful at what transpired and happened in how my Apple Watch helped me,” Eric Zollinger, 49, told Kennedy News while recounting the harrowing tale. “It’s very clever of the watch. Apple thinks of everything.”
The Post reached out to Zollinger for comment.
The real estate broker, who is based in Midtown West, said the freak accident occurred last month while he was riding a Citi Bike home from his office during a torrential downpour. This has long been his preferred mode of transport given that his apartment is “only five minutes away.”
Unfortunately, his commute went south after coming upon an “8-inch-deep” pothole filled with water, which concealed it like a booby trap.
“We had had a massive storm so the pothole was completely flooded,” Zollinger recalled. “All of a sudden I looked up, and it’s all flooded and there was traffic behind me. I had to ride through it.”
Disaster struck after his bike hit the impromptu watering hole and got stuck, causing him to fly off onto the pavement.
“I was thrown to the side and I hit the concrete,” the New Yorker explained. “I get up and the first thing I check is if my teeth are okay because I had veneers fitted a few years ago.”
He added, “Luckily they were okay. I hit my right knee and hit my face between my eyes and nose and hit my lip into my teeth, but I couldn’t see much blood.”
Zollinger subsequently walked his bike home to assess the extent of the damage, which seemed to entail a “broken” nose and bruised face, per a subsequent exam in the bathroom mirror.
When the Gothamite went to shower, however, his nose started gushing blood — leaving the bathroom looking like a “murder scene,” as seen in graphic photos posted to Zollinger’s Facebook page.
After trying to stand up, the cyclist grew dizzy and fainted, smacking his body on the side of the tub. He then awoke a little while later to hear — to his shock — the sound of a 911 operator speaking to him through his Apple Watch.
“The next thing I remember hearing is, ‘911, what’s your emergency?’” Zollinger said while recounting his literal wake-up call.
As it turned out, the fall in the tub had triggered the Apple Watch’s built-in fall detection function, which connects the user to emergency services if it “detects a hard fall,” per the site.
Zollinger said his watch “called 911 and alerted my emergency contacts with a map telling them my exact location.”
After canceling the call, the real estate guru visited a local hospital to get checked out. Fortunately, scans revealed that “nothing was broken,” and he was subsequently discharged.
Nonetheless, Zollinger refused to leave his apartment for three days since he was self-conscious of his disfigured face.
“I looked like a monster,” exclaimed the patient, whose bruising fortunately subsided within two weeks.
Zollinger ultimately credits the smartwatch for saving his life. “I don’t know how things would have gone for me if the watch hadn’t alerted me,” said the relieved Apple enthusiast.
This isn’t the first time the accessory has “watched” over a person in peril.
In December, a Delaware woman narrowly escaped the jaws of death after using the Apple Watch’s SOS feature to dial emergency services during a carbon monoxide leak.
And in 2022, a British man credited his Apple Watch for saving his life after it detected his heart had stopped nearly 138 times in 48 hours.
