Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A woman had to be rescued by firefighters when she became trapped under a sofa for three hours – in a scene reminiscent of the TV programme Friends.
Melissa, 53, who asked her surname not be published, was moving the sofa into her basement with the help of her partner, Todd, 55, when it became stuck.
Daughter Claire, 23, found her mother trapped on the wrong side of the sofa and tried to help, before giving up and deciding to film her predicament instead.
Her footage shows the sofa covering the entrance of the basement and Melissa’s hand sticking out from a tiny gap between it and the stairwell.
Melissa, a preschool teacher, was stuck in the basement for almost three hours while Claire and Todd tried to dislodge a handrail from the wall in hopes of freeing her.
Todd, an energy company manager, even made a hole in the wall trying to get the sofa into the basement, but to no avail.
Eventually, the family, from Columbus, Ohio, had to call the fire department.
Firefighters successfully got the handrail off the wall by wriggling through the hole.
Claire, a law student, said: “I thought it was hilarious. My parents did not think it was funny. My dad was mad because of the damage and my mom thought she was never getting out.
“When the fire brigade got there I was really trying to insert myself into the situation, because I have a twin sister and I wanted to film it for her.”
Speaking about the minor damage, she said: “I don’t think it should be expensive to fix.
“After the fact, my mom thought it was really funny. We laughed about it afterwards.
“This was definitely not the typical evening in my house. But there’s definitely a lot of chaos and craziness around.”
Claire posted the video to TikTok and it has accumulated 13 million views.
Her newfound viewers flooded the comments sections with references to the famous episode of the sitcom Friends in which the characters fail to move a sofa.
Comments on TikTok read: “911, we didn’t pivot,” and “Pivot! pivot! pivot!, she did in fact, not pivot”.
SWNS
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments