All Mike Bosch wanted to do was turn around in his
driveway. Five broken ribs, multiple bruises, and two very sore legs
later, he found himself thankful for a lot of help from his 5-month-old
puppy.
At 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 31, Bosch plummeted 50 feet
over a ridge near his Nicasio home in his white 1990 Toyota 4runner.
The car rolled over several times, and would have fallen even further
had it not been impaled on the stump of a tree.
The stump went through the windshield and pinned Bosch’s
legs to the dash, explained county fire captain David Carr, who led
the first rescue workers to arrive on the scene.
It was Honey, Bosch’s newly acquired 5-month
old cocker spaniel, who made the rescue possible. Understanding that
he wouldn’t be able to extricate himself from the wreck, Bosch
said, he helped the reluctant puppy out of a broken window. The dog
then climbed back up to Bosch’s driveway and ran to the home of
a neighbor, Robin Allen, where she waited. Allen returned home, and,
seeing the dog, brought her back to Bosch’s house.
When Allen arrived, Bosch said, he heard a car rolling
up and called for help. Allen, after peering over the ridge and seeing
the wreck, went into the house and called 911.
County firefighters had to cut open the car to remove
Bosch. They then put him on a backboard and pulled him up the steep
cliff using ropes and ladders, fire captain
Carr said. He was put in an ambulance and taken to a helicopter
waiting in a field off Nicasio Valley Road.
By the time he was removed from the car, Bosch said,
he had been trapped for eight hours.
From Nicasio Bosch was airlifted to the trauma center
at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he was treated before being transferred
on Wednesday to Kaiser Medical Center in San Rafael, where he spoke
to The Light by phone on Wednesday night.
As for Honey? Allen, Bosch’s neighbor, took the
dog along on a visit to Bosch’s house on Tuesday, Bosch said. The
young dog wasted no time, Bosch was told by his neighbor, in walking
to the edge of the ridge, where she sat down – whining for her
owner.