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New details are emerging about the dramatic rescue of a missing Jacksonville man who was found trapped in a borrow pit at a sand plant in Melrose after being stuck for nearly a week.<\/p>\n
According to the Putnam County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the rescue began when Deputy Derrick Holmes noticed a vehicle near Paran Church Road and State Road 100 and immediately recognized it.<\/p>\n
Deputy Holmes explained what stood out to him:<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I arrive at the vehicle, I\u2019ve recognized it right off to be a vehicle that I\u2019ve dealt with in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Holmes identified the car as belonging to 36-year-old Andrew Giddens, someone he had dealt with before and who had a history of going to sand plants. Holmes has said that prior encounters raised concern and prompted him to check the nearby property, the Vulcan Materials Company sand plant in Melrose, where he noticed someone had crossed over a fence.<\/p>\n Body camera video from Wednesday shows deputies carefully walking across unstable ground as they searched the property. Moments later, they located Giddens buried shoulder-deep in a borrow pit, stuck in mud behaving like quicksand.<\/p>\n Multiple agencies responded to help. Deputies and rescue crews placed ladders and pallets across the ground to prevent themselves from sinking. They threw a rope toward Giddens in an attempt to pull him free, but the mud continued to pull him downward.<\/p>\n As rescuers tried to reposition themselves, Giddens is heard yelling:<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to get around his body better.\u201d<\/p>\n The danger of the situation became clear when, during the rescue effort, a paramedic suddenly sank into one of the pits. Within seconds, he was halfway submerged before other responders quickly pulled him to safety.<\/p>\n According to authorities, crews worked for nearly two and a half hours before finally freeing Giddens. He was airlifted to a trauma center with critical injuries. Deputies say he had been stuck in the pit for five to six days without food or water.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Holmes said he had previously encountered Giddens trespassing at another sand plant in 2023. Because of that prior interaction, he contacted supervisors at Vulcan Materials after spotting the vehicle.<\/p>\n \u201cThey eventually located the individual buried in the mud,\u201d said Holmes.<\/p>\n In a statement, Vulcan Materials said:<\/p>\n \u201cOur Vulcan team at the Grandin Sand Plant handled a trespassing situation with care and compassion, shepherding first responders to a man who was in distress. We are grateful for his safe rescue and thankful for the first responders who aided him.\u201d<\/p>\n Investigators say Giddens last contacted family on Valentine\u2019s Day. Deputies say family members reported he had recently gone through a breakup.<\/p>\n When asked whether Giddens may have been dealing with mental health struggles, Holmes responded:<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a good possibility. I know that he\u2019s gone through from his family and friends making statements that he had recently broken up with somebody in a relationship status.\u201d<\/p>\n Giddens\u2019 father also confirmed by phone that his son had been engaged, but the relationship was recently called off.<\/p>\n Authorities say no charges will be filed, citing concerns about Giddens\u2019 mental health. The sheriff\u2019s office is encouraging anyone experiencing troubling times to call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New details are emerging about the dramatic rescue of a missing Jacksonville man who was found trapped in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[80744,81882,81884,116,118,117,80801,81885,81883],"class_list":{"0":"post-172228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-andrew-giddens","9":"tag-derrick-holmes","10":"tag-dramatic-rescue","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","13":"tag-jacksonville-news","14":"tag-putnam-county-sheriffs-office","15":"tag-rescue-crews","16":"tag-vulcan-materials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}