Ryan Belcher, who’s earned the nickname "Hulk” since using brute strength to move a mangled SUV, freeing a trapped man from underneath, says the days that followed his life-saving feat of strength have been “emotional” and “humbling.”

After word of his good dead spread across the country last week following an interview with The Ann Arbor News, Belcher over the weekend met Montrell Tinsley, the 36-year-old Ypsilanti man whose life he helped save.

And on Monday morning, he found himself telling his story to a national audience in an appearance on Fox News “Fox and Friends.”

Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

“He was all teary-eyed and he said, ‘You saved me, man,’" Belcher said of his meeting with Tinsley, who remained hospitalized at Ann Arbor’s St. Joseph Mercy Hospital on Sunday.

“I’m just glad you’re here,” Belcher said he told Tinsley.

Belcher, a 29-year-old powerlifter from Belleville, told MLive instinct took over when he came upon a serious rollover crash outside his workplace in Ypsilanti Township about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14.

The driver was trapped in an overturned, severely damaged Jeep with his upper torso pinned against a speed limit sign, the lower half of his body immobilized inside the SUV. Other bystanders were surrounding and pushing the vehicle, trying to shift it so that they could drag the man out to safety. It wouldn’t budge.

Ryan Belcher, 29, and his wife, Vanessa Belcher, of Belleville.

Belcher is used to moving heavy weight. He said he’s squatted 950 pounds, bench-pressed 530 pounds and dead-lifted 800 pounds in competition. He’s never moved a two-ton vehicle in a life-or-death situation.

“From there, I just kind of got tunnel vision," Belcher said. “And then I grabbed the back, where the window was smashed out and lifted up and started pushing.”

Belcher said the Jeep began to rotate enough for bystanders to free the man. He was pulled to safety as paramedics arrived.

The other driver, a 44-year-old woman, struck the Jeep, which was stopped on Michigan Avenue, from behind, according to police.

“She was covered in blood, but she also got up and walked to the stretcher,” Belcher said.

Both victims were conscious at the scene and were expected to survive, according to police.

Tinsley, as of Monday, was listed in fair condition at St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, which means “vital signs are stable and within normal limits" and “indicators are favorable,” hospital spokeswoman Laura L. Blodgett said.

Washtenaw County sheriff’s officials on Friday said the crash remained under investigation and hadn’t announced any arrests or citations.

MLive was unable to reach a sheriff’s office representatives for an update Monday.

Belcher said he didn’t realize how significant the injuries suffered by Tinsley were, or how crucial his actions were to saving the man’s life. Tinsley was taken off a ventilator Saturday and still had tubes in his body to drain internal bleeding Sunday, Belcher said.

As many as eight nurses gave Belcher hugs or shook his hand during his meeting with Tinsley, he said, letting him know that his actions might have saved the patient’s life.

“It feels great to know that I impacted somebody’s life like that,”Belcher said. "I feel like he’s impacted mine in a major way.

“It was just something that I had to do as a human being.”

Ryan Belcher is being hailed as a hero for helping lift a car off a person who was pinned underneath.



https://t.co/dLsjfauBBE — KAMR Local 4 News (@KAMRLocal4News) February 18, 2019

As their meeting continued, the mood lightened and Tinsley began “cracking jokes,” referring to Belcher as the “Hulk,” in reference to Stan Lee’s 1962-created comic book character, a green humanoid with superhuman strength.

“He was saying, ‘You’re going to help me walk again. We’re going to do it at your gym,'" Belcher said. “I feel like I made a lifelong connection.”

While most of the reaction has been positive, Belcher, who didn’t initiate any of the media reports himself, said some online have accused him of trying to steal the glory.

He said that’s not his intent, acknowledging that numerous bystanders and emergency responders contributed to the lifesaving effort.

If he could have avoided the attention and distractions that followed the crash, Belcher said he would have.

Belcher is currently training for an upcoming powerlifting competition he’s entered at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio, an event named after former California governor and bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“I have the most important competition of my life coming up in 12 days," Belcher said.