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It was just after 4:30 a.m. and there weren’t many other drivers out on the road in Rutherford.
Carmeci, of North Bergen, pulled to the shoulder, donned his safety vest and headed 60 yards or so into the meadows off the highway. There he found a 2001 Mazda MX-5 convertible that rolled off the ramp and landed on its roof.
A passing trucker had pulled over and called 911. Carmeci took the phone from him, provided their exact location and said he saw movement inside the car through the front-seat passenger window.
It was the driver.
He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, authorities said, and was thrown into the passenger seat. The window was blown out and he was cut and bleeding from his face and arms.
Wrapping his arms around the driver’s torso, Carmeci pulled him through the passenger window to safety – moments before the ragtop collapsed.
Carmeci did his best to stabilize the driver’s neck while waiting for an EMS unit that arrived seconds later.
Nick’s sent two rigs -- a 35-ton, heavy-duty 2006 Peterbilt Vulcan wrecker and a 2022 International MV607 carrier -- to handle the tow.
Carmeci hung around to assist, then hustled into work a mile or so up the road to get cleaned up and start his shift.
His colleagues couldn’t be prouder.
A U.S. Marine, Carmeci served his country for eight years and was in Iraq during Operation Freedom. He is approaching his 10th anniversary at Nick’s and credits military and towing experience for his “right place right time” response to the highway incident.
“Any one of us would have done the same thing,” he said.
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