CONEMAUGH, Pa. -- A victim of a rollover crash became trapped under his vehicle and thought he was about to die -- until he was saved by four bystanders in Conemaugh, Indiana County.
"They are my guardian angels," a bandaged Nick Pantalone told Channel 4 Action News' Jennifer Miele on Friday.
Rescuers told Miele that it looked like a movie scene from "The Wizard Of Oz," when Dorothy's house landed on top of the Wicked Witch of the East and all that could be seen of the witch was her legs.
According to a state police report, Pantalone was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee north on Clarksburg Road when the 18-year-old Blairsville man failed to see a stop sign at Newport Road because of foggy conditions.
The vehicle went through a guiderail and over an embankment, traveling about 140 feet and rolling several times, police said.
During the crash, Pantalone was ejected from the vehicle and it ended up on top of him.
"My arms were OK. My legs were OK. But my head was stuck," Pantalone said.
Pantalone's rottweiler puppy, Bridgett, crawled out of the vehicle unharmed, but he said his head was sinking in some mud.
"The breaths were half of a second. My feet started kicking without me telling them to, and I wrote a note on the steering wheel," he said. "I wrote, 'I love you all,' and I thought I was dead."
That's when Daniel Shearer, Nicholas Ingham, Peter Deforno and Kenneth Dice Jr. came to Pantalone's aide, rolling the vehicle off him until medical help arrived.
"I'm just glad I could be there at the time," Shearer said. "I was lucky enough to see him doing it, because I don't think anyone would have found the poor guy."
Shearer and Ingham witnessed the crash. DeForno and Dice -- who are Shearer's cousins -- happened to be driving by and stopped to help.
"Dan and I -- we wouldn't have been able to roll that car over ourselves," Ingham said. "I was afraid he was going to die right here."
Pantalone suffered what police described as moderate-to-serious injuries. He was flown to Conemaugh Medical Center, and he needed stitches and some ear surgery, but is otherwise OK.
"They asked me, pain on a scale of one to 10 -- 10 being the worst you've ever felt -- and I said, 'Well, this is the worst I ever felt, then," Pantalone said with a laugh.
Pantalone's family owns Clem's, a barbecue restaurant in Blairsville. As he recovers from his injuries, he says all of his rescuers are getting free ribs.
Related Video - Pantalone Talks With Jennifer Miele At Greensburg Community Days
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