Perhaps I'm too stupid to understand this, but I don't get this story at all.
The pilot couldn't start the engine, so he tried swinging the prop. In a Cessna with an electric starter? Big no-no for starters.
Were the parking brakes not engaged? One of the first things you check surely.
Then the aircraft "became airborne". For that to happen the throttle must've been wide open - the aircraft wouldn't get airborne with 1/4" open and
<1200rpm, which seems the normal starting setting for most aircraft.
Is this story a wind-up?
A somewhat bemused Smithy