By Bill Carey
EMS1
JACKSON COUNTY, N.C. — Two Jackson County high school students died last week in a car crash and it could have been three if an off-duty paramedic did not trust his instincts while he was driving.
Kyle Dowling, a paramedic supervisor for Harris Regional Hospital EMS, was taking his wife and baby to a doctor’s appointment on May 31, but something along the side of the road caught his eye, WLOS reported.
“Some tire tracks were leading over the bank,” Dowling said. “Something said you need to check again.”
Dowling pulled over and looked further. He then saw the crashed vehicle.
“I told her to bring my phone, my EMS radio. I called into our dispatch center,” Dowling said. Two occupants of the car were dead, but the driver, Oscar Munoz Perez was still alive.
Dowling helped first responders get Perez up the steep bank and accompanied him to Harris Regional.
“I give the credit to the good Lord because he had some very extensive injuries and he had been there for a long period,” Dowling said. “I don’t have a good medical explanation of why he is still alive.”