Worker Saves Puppy From Certain Death

There's a very lucky puppy still happily wagging its tail in Springfield, Mo., thanks to a quick-on-his-feet maintenance worker. Per the New York Daily News, security video shows what happened during Brian Ussery's shift Wednesday morning at an apartment building: A man with his dog on a leash nonchalantly entered an elevator without realizing his dog wasn't right behind him. Before the puppy could catch up, the doors closed and the dog was yanked into the air by the rising elevator.

Ussery was close enough to rush over and sever the leash, likely saving the puppy's life. "I hate to know what would have happened if I wasn't able to break that leash before she got to the top again," Ussery notes in a Facebook post about the incident. The owner obviously felt the same, hurrying back down in a panic from the fifth floor once he realized what had happened. "The guy was freaking out, he didn't know what he was going to come back to," Ussery says. (More uplifting news stories.)