Mystery Hero Who Saved Driver from Car Hanging off Idaho Cliff Revealed
Published at
iStock/Thinkstock(LEWISTON, Idaho) — The mystery hero who saved a 23-year-old driver from his car hanging off a canyon cliff in Lewiston, Idaho, has been identified as Jason Warnock, police said.
The Good Samaritan was photographed pulling the driver, Mathew Sitko, from the window of his 2000 GMC Yukon dangling off a 30-foot drop above Bryden Canyon Road with only a chain-link fence stopping it from falling, according to a Lewiston Police Department press release.
Police witnessed Warnock rescuing Sitko, but they never got his name, and Warnock “said he had to go, and he left,” Lewiston police officer Eric Olson said.
It turns out Warnock had been working at the time and was trying to avoid attention, so he quickly left the scene, according to the press release.
Warnock, 29, told officers he’d been traveling along Bryden Canyon Road when he noticed “the vehicle hanging precariously above the cliff face,” police said.
Warnock said he then ran up to the pedestrian foot bridge, climbed up above the cliff face, then crossed the embankment to access the vehicle, police added, saying he tried to break the passenger window with a Leatherman tool but was unable to.
The car was rocking when he tried to break the window, Warnock told ABC News Thursday.
Once Warnock was able to calm Sitko enough to have him roll down the window, Warnock pulled Sitko out to safety, police said.
“The Lewiston Police Department would like to thank Jason Warnock for his quick and decisive actions in helping Mr. Sitko and preventing the situation from worsening,” the department added.
Sitko’s vehicle had struck several shrubs and a tree before going off the road and resting on the edge of a cliff, police said.
Further investigation “showed some type of mental episode may have been responsible for the collision,” police added. “No other persons were involved or injured.”
Sitko suffered only minor injuries, police said.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.