Saints' Mitchell Loewen Helps Save Man After Car Fell From Fourth Floor of a Parking Garage

The defensive end was enjoying brunch with his family when a car fell from the fourth floor of a parking garage into the street.

A crowd of people led by Saints defensive end Mitchell Loewen helped save a man who was trapped in Mercedes Benz SUV on Sunday, according to Marie Simoneaux of The Times-Picayune.

Loewen told Simoneaux he was eating brunch with his wife and 2-year-old son when the car fell from the fourth floor of a nearby parking garage and landed on its roof. After identifying there was only one man stuck inside, Loewan told Simoneaux he got assistance from about 10 other people to flip the car on its side, and then flip it again so it was upright, but the doors were smashed in a way that they could not be opened from the outside.

After getting the car on its wheels, Loewen told Simoneaux he "got really worried" because they couldn't see inside the car that much, and the driver, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, had stopped responding to the questions Loewen was asking to help make sure he was alert throughout the rescue.

Loewen, 25, explained that one of the bystanders crawled into the car, made sure the man stuck inside was conscious and opened the back-passenger door from inside the vehicle. Loewen said he ripped the door off its hinges to lean into the car to talk with the man and then he hugged him and prayed with him. Loewen added that because of the way the man's legs were pinned inside the car and a fear they could injure him even more, the people who helped get the car upright and make sure the man was still alive halted any further rescue efforts and waited for paramedics to arrive to get him out of the car. Loewen told Simoneaux the rescue only took a few minutes.

According to The Times-Picayune, New Orleans Police Department spokesman Aaron Looney said the reason for the crash is still being investigated, only the man inside the car was injured and although the extent of the man's injuries was not yet known, he is expected to survive.

"It was like a movie," Loewen told Simoneaux. "I just did what I had to do, and I wasn't thinking about anything else. ... 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."

You can listen to Loewen tell the story himself below.

Loewen is getting ready to enter his third year with the Saints after signing with them as an undrafted free agent out of Arkansas. Last season he appeared in two games before an ankle injury cut his campaign short.