Man Who Sacrificed His Tesla Car to Save a Driver Gets a Surprise Gift from Tesla's CEO
Talk about good karma. A Tesla Model S owner who deliberately wrecked his car to save an unconscious driver on the road is getting his car repaired for free. And guess who will shoulder all the expenses? No other than the Tesla Motors Company.
Manfred Kick, age 41, was driving north on Bundesautobahn 9 outside of Munich on Monday night when he noticed a Volkswagen Passat driving erratically ahead of him. Kick sped his car and pulled alongside the Passat, and found the man, age 47, slumped over the wheel, apparently unconscious.
"The driver had tipped forward and hung motionless in the belt," Kick told Muenchner Merkur, a German newspaper.
"The head and hands hung limply down."
Kick contacted the emergency services, but also knew he didn't have much time to stop the car. So he took a risk and pulled his Model S in front of the Passat to let it hit his rear bumper. He then pushed his brake continuously until he was able to stop both cars on the road.
"I had to stop his car somehow, otherwise it would have continued forever," Kick later told the newspaper. "And it was clear that the driver needed urgent help."
Kick attended to the driver while he waited for help to arrive.
"I felt his pulse and then put him in a lying position so that the foam ran out of his mouth," he said.
When asked if the insurance will cover the incident, Kick said he wasn't sure, and what's important is "that the man is all right."
The unconscious man, who apparently suffered a stroke while driving, was rushed to the hospital and treated for "internal injuries". He was placed in a special clinic for treatment, and is now in stable condition.
Officials described what happened as something that has 'incredible courage'. The news spread in social media, and reached Tesla's Co-Founder and CEO Elon Musk. He soon took to his Twitter account, and praised Kick's heroic act:
"Congrats to the Tesla owner who sacrificed damage to his own car to bring a car with an unconscious driver safely to a stop," wrote Musk.
After a short while, he went back to Twitter again and showed his appreciation by offering to repair the damages for free:
"In appreciation, Tesla is providing all repair costs free of charge and expedited."
Kick's Tesla Model costs around $70,000, and the speculated cost of repairs for both damaged cars add up to a total of $10,700 (€10,000).
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