A six-year-old boy's quick thinking is being credited with preventing a Mackenzie man from ending up in even worse condition after he suffered serious injuries when he was a passenger in a car that rolled on Morfee Mountain Road shortly after midnight Sunday.
Dazed and confused after his head hit the windshield, Don Melanson, 30, got out of the vehicle in "walk shock" and wandered into long grass near the crash. But his son, Donovan, had been sitting in the back seat and escaped injury.
Donovan also had the presence of mind to grab his father's hand, guide him back to the scene, sit him down and retrieve his cellphone to call 911.
"I just put my hand in his pocket, grabbed the phone, called 911 and I let him talk," Donovan said Tuesday while in Prince George.
Donovan's mother, Tina Rokitjanski, 28, said he's a hero.
"He stayed completely calm," said Rokitjanski. "It was amazing."
Melanson was transferred to hospital in Prince George where he was put into an induced coma to deal with head injuries. He had since come out, his tubes have been removed and he's now talking.
If not for Donovan's actions, his father could have bled to death from a deep gash to his head, Rokitjanski said, especially since the car's three other occupants tried to flee the scene.
"It was scary, so scary," she said.
A celebration will be held for Donovan, who has a twin brother and a nine-year-old sister, once he's back home in Mackenzie.
Police believe speed and alcohol were factors in the incident, when the car rolled at a curve on the gravel road and landed in some bushes.
Another man was found about 100 metres away from the scene and taken to hospital in Prince George with non-life threatening injuries. The two other occupants, a 45-year-old male driver and 20-year-old female passenger were later found walking along the road.
The driver was arrested and charges were pending the investigation's outcome.
