A Timmins man travelling through North Bay emerged as the hero Sunday afternoon after the two occupants of a car involved in a bad accident at the intersection of Algonquin and Airport Road, tried to run from the scene.
It happened around 4:15 Sunday afternoon when, according to an eye witness, the black sedan was northbound on Algonquin when it tried to turn left onto McKeown Avenue against a red light, striking the red sedan that was already in the intersection.
The female driver of the red SUV was taken to hospital with non-serious injuries.
Nate Carroll and his wife were getting takeout from McDonald's and were in the parking lot, just yards from the collision site, when they heard a "big smash."
Right after, he saw two men running from the crashed car, trying to escape the scene by going through the parking lot past Carroll, who reacted quickly.
"They were trying to flee, so instantly me and two other guys started chasing after them," he told BayToday.
"There were two guys that ran. One was a tall guy and I wasn't fast enough to catch him but I was able to catch the other guy with help from the other gentlemen. We got him in front of the Tim Hortons and we got him pinned to the ground."
Police told Carroll that they had arrested the second runner a short time later, and that the car they were driving was stolen. He estimated their ages at around 22-23 years old.
"So it was good that we helped out."
The guy Carroll had pinned down was the passenger in the vehicle and had a small dog, injured in the accident, with him.
Carroll spotted it, and rather than leave the dog alone at the scene, Carroll picked it up so he could get it some care.
Comforting the dog in his car, he wasn't finished with his good deeds, telling BayToday, "The dog's eye is all messed up so we're going to take him to a vet right now."
