Saints player 'led by God' to save man's life after gruesome accident
Hero is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but in the case of New Orleans Saints defensive lineman Mitchell Loewen, it applies.
Loewen, a defensive end for the Saints, was having lunch with his wife and child in New Orleans on Sunday when he saw an SUV fall from the fourth floor of a parking structure and land upside-down on its roof.
The 25-year-old Loewen immediately rushed to help the driver, who was screaming in pain, trapped in his vehicle. Loewen was the first on the scene.
Learn How Saints’ Mitchell Loewen Helped Rescue A Man Who Was Trapped In SUV After It Had Fallen From 4th Floor Garage (Photos) https://t.co/MIi8mVrceT via @CurlsAndSports pic.twitter.com/Ikauqh8Pem
— Robert Littal BSO (@BSO) July 17, 2018
“There were a bunch of people standing around, but not approaching the car and I was like, ‘What’s up, let’s help this guy,'” Loewen told The New Orleans Times-Picayune. “I mean, obviously there was someone in there, I wasn’t going to just stand by and watch. It was a life or death situation.”
The man was pinned behind the wheel.
“There was no way I could have dragged him out of that, so I called for people to come help and about 10 of us flipped the car onto its side,” Loewen told The Times Picayune.
After another push, they got the SUV back upright on its wheels. But at this point, the man was not responding to Loewen and the others.
“I got really worried. We couldn’t see into the car very well, but the doors were so crushed we couldn’t open them,” Loewen said.
Another person crawled into the car to check on the man and open one of the doors from the inside. He said the man was still conscious.
Loewen, who is 6 feet 5 and 275 pounds, then ripped the door off its hinges and leaned into the car to speak with the man.
“He didn’t say much, he was just thanking us all. I hugged him and told him he was going to be OK, and then I prayed with him,” Loewen said, reported The Times-Picayune. “I couldn’t tell how bad his injuries were, but there was a lot of blood and broken glass.”
Loewen and the others sat with him until emergency workers arrived to set him free from the wreckage. The Times-Picayune reported that the man is expected to survive, but the extent of his injuries was not known.
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“It was crazy,” Loewen told The Times-Picayune. “It was a life-changing experience.”
Loewen said he felt like he was led by God to help the man, whose name he didn’t even know.
“I’d say giving life, saving life, taking life or risking life are about the only time your heart’s going to beat like that,” he told ESPN. “There’s not many things that can do for you … just the feeling you get after something like that. I mean, I felt like I was in a movie. At the time, I had extreme confidence. I had no hesitation at all about what needed to be done. And it was just that kind of feeling and the adrenaline pumping. I mean, that’s life to the fullest right there. I felt like I was being led by God to go help that man.”
Loewen said he was just one in a group of people who helped out.
“That was a lot of grown men working together for one purpose: to save one man that no one knew at the moment. We had no interest in this man’s life except to save it,” Loewen told ESPN.
“I just want to meet the guy and talk to him. I’m still in awe and can’t stop thinking about him and praying that he’s all right,” Loewen said, reported The Times-Picayune.
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