SANDPOINT, Idaho — One man has a stranger to thank this holiday season for likely saving his life.
Nicolas Douglas was driving down Schweitzer Mountain after checking a contracting job when he came across a car that drove off the side of a cliff. Before first responders could arrive, Douglas bravely rescued a man stuck inside the car and, quite possibly, saved his life.
Douglas owns 7B Handyman and Contracting and 7B Detail in Bonner County, and frequently bounces from detailing cars to fixing something.
However, the assignments he found in front of him on Saturday night isn't on his regular to-do list.
In the fresh snow along a popular overlook, Douglas says he noticed something that stopped him: a fresh set of tire tracks going down a hill.
"I seen a car 70 feet down over the hillside, pinned between trees," Douglas recalled. “No one would’ve found him. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind he wouldn’t have been found any time soon.”
Douglas said he was able to pry open one of the car doors and pull the man up the hill. From that point, Schweitzer emergency responders took over.
“I drug him probably a quarter of the way and then I got him to kind of come coherent. He started coming awake on me, he got knocked out unconscious," he said. “He would’ve been covered in there and froze to death.”
The car ended up pinned between trees on the hill, with little but the taillights visible to anyone passing by. The car has since been pulled out from its plunge over the hillside, and the man Douglas found behind the wheel is now safely back with his family tonight.”
KREM 2 News spoke with the rescued man, Luis, who shared the message he sent Douglas and his wife after returning home to his family in Las Vegas. He thanked them for another chance at life.
Now, no matter how busy Douglas gets, he's unlikely to forget the most important job of his life.
“Really rocked my world in regards to, we need to appreciate every moment we have in life," Douglas said.
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