Man looking for ‘guardian angels’ who pulled him out of burning car
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — A car burst into flames, trapping a disabled man and his dog inside.
Only on 2: Meredith Barack sat down with the Schaumburg man, who is now searching for two strangers who saved his life.
Rich Schmuldt was driving his granddaughter’s car back to Crystal Lake Saturday afternoon when it stalled on Algonquin Road.
He got it back up and running, but then he noticed smoke coming from the hood. Moments later, he was being pulled from the burning car by what he calls his guardian angels.
“I’m pounding on the door, pushing on the door, trying to break the window,” Schmuldt said. “The door wouldn’t open.”
Schmuldt said his car had just coasted down this hill, and stopped feet from a tree as it began to fill with smoke. He was unable to move his left leg due to a stroke.
“I’ve got my cane, I’ve got a brace, I’ve got orthopedic shoes,” Schmuldt said, adding he wasn’t sure how he was going to escape.
“Just then, somebody opened up the door and said ‘give me your hand, I’ll drag you through,’” remembered Schmuldt said.
He said a couple appeared out of nowhere.
“She grabbed one arm and he grabbed the other arm, they got me about 15 feet away from the car,” Schmuldt said. “They both let me lean on their shoulders and they got me over to this woman’s patio.”
In the meantime, his dog Skyler, who was in the backseat, ran off into a nearby field.
“They got my dog back,” Schmuldt said. “Not only did the Samaritan and God save my life, she saved my pup.”
His daughter Jackie, who rushed to meet her dad as soon as she could, was in disbelief.
“We don’t think that he would have made it on his own,” she said. “He wouldn’t have been fast enough, because he said when he looked, there was already fire underneath the car.”
Rich’s family now hopes to find the duo they say were more than just Good Samaritans, but guardian angels.
“I think it would be great to say thank you and let them know if it wasn’t for them, you know, we’d be having a different kind of week,” she said. “And after you know, losing our brother and our mom, we’re not ready to lose our dad yet. It’d be great to thank them and it’s great to see good things happen in the world and kind people out there.”
“I may have gotten out, I don’t know I mean, luck and God is with me I guess,” he said.
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