WATCH: Fast-Acting Hotel Manager Rescues Dog From Elevator Disaster

A fast-acting hotel manager saved a guest’s small dog last week from what could have been a gruesome and deadly elevator accident, and it was all caught on the hotel’s security camera.

Ben Duke is general manager at The Roadway Inn in Greenville, South Carolina. In the right place at the right time, Duke was coming out of a storage area at the hotel just as one of his guests was getting onto the elevator with his leashed dog.

“The doors closed, and I guess he didn’t realize that his dog had wandered off,” Duke told WYFF.

He noticed the dog being pulled by its leash toward the closed elevator, and sprang into action.

“I just grabbed it, and struggled with it, then I guess adrenaline set in or something, and I snapped the leash right above my hand,” Duke said.

Thanks to his quick action, Duke saved the dog, named Boo Boo, from apparent strangulation, at the very least.

“The dog was scared, and fought me pretty hard,” Duke said. “In fact, he scratched me pretty good on my face. I don’t blame him. It was pretty scary.”

He said the dog’s owner, who is a regular guest at the hotel, came back upstairs in tears. “He was crying and was so grateful” Duke said. “He just came up and hugged me. It was pretty crazy.”

While people are calling him a hero, Duke says he can’t imagine doing anything else in that situation.