Idaho Mystery Hero Jason Warnock Found: ‘God Put Me Here At The Right Time’
The mystery hero who pulled a man from a vehicle balancing precariously over the edge of an Idaho cliff on Wednesday has been found. The Lewiston Tribune originally reported the mystery hero stopped long enough to calm the driver down and pull him from the dangerous crash site, then disappeared when police arrived. The hero could not immediately be found. Lewiston police officer Eric Olson saw the mystery hero as he rushed away.
“He said he had to go, and he left.”
He did not stick around to receive accolades as a result of the selfless rescue. The mystery hero did not even leave his name with the accident victim, who understandably was quite visibly shaken.
Mathew Sitko was driving down a street near his home when he suffered a horrifying crash that might have led to his plunge off the edge of a 30 foot sheer drop over the Bryden Canyon in Lewiston, Idaho, had he not been found by a mystery hero. Eyewitness reports claim that Sitko was driving “fast and erratically” and nearly struck another vehicle before careening through shrubbery, striking a tree, and bursting through a chain link fence bordering the Bryden Canyon cliff. The fencing was found to be the only thing holding Sitko’s vehicle from tumbling into oblivion.
Lucky for Sitko, the mystery hero saw debris on the road and followed it until he found the crash site. According to the Huffington Post, authorities searched for the mystery hero but he was not found until the following day. Jason Warnock, once found, was happy to relay the events leading up to the rescue, but was not interested in any kind of attention for himself.
Jason told NBC News he initially planned to break the window but didn’t want the impact to cause the car to tip further over the cliff. So the hero talked Sitko down into a calmer state and he was able to roll the window down, allowing Jason to pull him through to safety.
“He was pretty broke up in what he was saying but then he was like, ‘I started reading the Bible last night.’ And I was like that’s awesome, you know, that’s great.”
Interim police chief Roger Lanier said the accident was found to be brought on by some type of mental episode.
“What he told the officers was he was literally driving along after dropping off his younger siblings for school, and he was listening to a song on the radio, and some lyrics in the song convinced him that it was essentially his time to die. He just closed his eyes, took his hands off the wheel, and pressed the accelerator.”
Warnock, mystery hero extraordinaire, hugged Mathew when he pulled him out and sat in the grass with him until the police arrived. During that time, the hero said, they talked about the Bible.
“I think maybe God… put me here at the right time, and he held you up here for sure for a reason. Maybe it’s meant to bring you closer to him.”
Jason Warnock, though no longer a mystery, is certainly a hero. Thankful to have been found before plummeting off the edge of the cliff, Sitko took to Facebook, where he thanked God for blessing and taking care of him. See the NBC News interview with Jason Warnock below.
[Image via KTSA]
