VICTORIA - As paramedics tend to an elderly man next to his crumpled vehicle in Victoria Thursday morning, Jordan Pringle can only look on and wonder 'what if?' "I just took a break so 10 minutes more I would've been right there" he says.

Pringle was washing windows outside a parkade on Oak Bay Avenue Thursday morning when he noticed the man pulling into a spot on the second level a few metres to his right. "I'm up on the ladder right there, washing those two panes there, and this guy is just parking his car. Instead of hitting the brake, he hit the gas and flies right through" recalls Pringle.

The car hopped the curb and smashed through a window before falling two storeys onto a concrete wall, finally ending up on its roof.  "I signalled for them to call 911, raced down the ladder, a neighbour over there came down and we pried open the door, and assisted him out" says Pringle.

Police confirm the 79-year old driver Pringle helped escape the wreck was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Pringle says the man was conscious and calling out for his wife.

Investigators are looking into the possibility it was in fact driver error or confusion that caused the plunge.

Jordan Pringle is well aware what could have happened if he'd been only a few metres further along in his day's work, washing the window that is now only a mangled frame. "I got a little guardian angel on my shoulder" he says.