Man rescued from car crashed under I-94 overpass near Portage after a week released from hospital
PORTER COUNTY, Ind. (WLS) -- Matt Reum, who was rescued from his crashed car in Northwest Indiana after being trapped for nearly a week, has been released from the hospital.
Reum was rescued by fishermen Nivardo Delatorre and Mario Garcia, who were out scouting along a creek underneath an I-94 overpass near Portage, Ind., on the day after Christmas when they happened upon his car and found Reum still stuck inside the driver's seat. They called 911.
Body camera video from police and firefighters shows just how treacherous his rescue was, as they hoisted Reum up a steep, mud-logged bank. By then he had been partially crushed, stranded and alone for six days with his cell phone just out of reach to call for help. Instead, he somehow logged a notebook.
"That notebook had my obituary and it had a suicide note to my best friend because I was not planning on getting through that day," Reum said in a video posted to YouTube.
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One of his legs had to be partially amputated, but the incident has given him a fresh outlook on what's good in this life. He was released from Memorial Hospital in South Bend Wednesday, wheeling himself out of his hospital room like it's second nature. He's healthy and more than able, and he said he owes it to the men who got him there.
"The act of you guys showing up saved my life," he said on YouTube.
