Police in Ohio are crediting the Apple Watch with notifying them of a fatal car crash that occurred over the weekend. Sadly, the car crash left one person dead and another person in critical condition. The cause of the crash is still being investigated, but police in Columbus, Ohio, say they used a combination of technology to locate the incident.

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Police say it was an Apple Watch emergency alert that first notified them about the car crash.

“The single-vehicle crash happened sometime between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. in the area of I-71 north and I-270, according to the sheriff’s office,” WBNS reports. “Police officers from Grove City were alerted to the crash by an Apple Watch.”

The police also used drone technology to locate the car after arriving to the location shared by the Apple Watch.

“After officers were unable to locate the vehicle, they called the drone team with the sheriff’s office for assistance,” WBNS writes. “Using the drone, authorities were able to spot the car, a Chevy Spark, in the ravine between I-71 north and the exit ramp to I-270 east.”

Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra introduced car crash detection as a feature in September 2022. iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro also include car crash detection. The phones also include emergency communication via satellite in areas without cell network coverage.

Since launching last fall, Apple has continuously tuned its software to be better optimized to detect car crashes while working out issues with false alarms caused by roller coasters and skiing.

Learn more about Apple’s car crash detection capabilities here.

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