Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

A Chelsea man with a wife and four children has a co-worker to thank for saving his life. Dominick Myers was driving home from his night shift job at a Chelsea business Friday morning when he hit a patch of black ice at Conway and Sibley roads and skidded off the roadway. His van ended up overturned and partially submerged in a pond.

Myers tried in vain to force open the front doors and windows, but the water pressure pushing against the vehicle was too much. He told Detroit TV station WXYZ, in his words, “there was no escaping.” Myers added, “(I) didn’t actually think I would see my kids again, I was fully in the mind set of all right, this is it.”

At least Myers had time to call 9-1-1 and explain his situation, and then called his wife to say goodbye. Myers thought he would never see his wife or kids again. But out of the cold, murky depths of the pond he suddenly saw a face appear and the man, now identified as Nicholas Kolb, was able to force a passenger door open.

Kolb told Channel 7 that when he entered the water, quote, “I heard him start yelling so I just leaped in." Kolb grabbed Myers, pulling him out of the van and swimming with him to shore. Neither person was injured. Myers says he owes his life to Kolb, who, coincidentally, is a fellow employee at the Chelsea business where they both had just ended the first shift.

When Myers got home he explained what had happened to Kimberly, his wife, and went to bed. In the meantime, he had forgotten to get the name of the man who saved him. His wife decided to post an item on social media asking the public to help them find the identity of the man so they could thank him. In the post she said, “Because of him, my husband gets to come home to our family and his four kids.” Kolb then stepped forward to say that he was the rescuer.

The Myers have established a Go Fund Me account because the van they lost was their only mode of transportation to work and getting their kids to school. As of early this morning, $3,100 had been raised toward the $15,000 goal.