Hero NFL player rips car door off hinges to rescue man inside after accident: 'I prayed with him

Mitchell Loewen, a 25-year-old New Orleans Saints football player, literally ripped a car door off its hinges in order to help rescue a man who'd fallen victim to a terrifying vehicle accident.

What are the details?

It all went down on Sunday when a car carrying a man purported to be in his mid-20s accidentally drove off an upper level of a parking garage in New Orleans' Central Business District.

The car landed on its roof in the middle of a busy street, and the unidentified man was trapped in the vehicle. The man was pinned inside.

Loewen, who was having lunch in a restaurant near the accident, and other bystanders were able to flip the vehicle right side up after he saw that the man's legs were pinned down and he was slumped over the backseat of the vehicle.

"People were screaming, it sounded like a bomb or an earthquake or something," Loewen said according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

He added, "There were a bunch of people standing around, but not approaching the car and I was like 'What's up, let's help this guy.' I mean, obviously there was someone in there, I wasn't going to just stand by and watch. It was a life or death situation."

"I got really worried," Loewen said. "We couldn't see into the car very well, but the doors were so crushed we couldn't open them."

Loewen added that another bystander was able to crawl into the car to confirm that the victim was still conscious.

According to the Times-Picayune, Loewen then "wrenched open the door from the outside, ripping it off its hinges, and leaned into the car to speak with the man."

"He didn't say much, he was just thanking us all," Loewen recalled. "I hugged him and told him he was going to be OK, and then I prayed with him. I couldn't tell how bad his injuries were, but there was a lot of blood and broken glass."

Loewen and other bystanders remained with the man until emergency services responded and were able to extract the man from the mangled vehicle.

No details were yet available at the time of this writing as to how — or why — the unidentified man's car fell off the parking structure. The accident remains under investigation.

NOPD spokesman Aaron Looney told the outlet that the man is expected to survive his injuries.

For his part, Loewen still can't believe that the incident really happened.

"I just want to meet the guy and talk to him. I'm still in awe and can't stop thinking about him and praying that he's all right," Loewen told the outlet.