Last Friday, James Sundby, a 38-year-old man from Wadena, Minnesota, was driving on a road near Lake Le Homme Dieu, about 120 miles northwest of Minneapolis. At some point, he missed a turn at a T in the road and drove off a 40-foot embankment, going over some open water before landing upside down on the lake’s remaining ice, a bit farther from the shore. 

He then, according to the Star-Tribune, somehow got out and made it to a nearby resident’s house, bloodied, disoriented, and unsure exactly what happened. 

When Andy Armstrong, the homeowner, finally awoke at 3:30 a.m., Sundby had apparently managed not only to gain access to the inside of the house, he’d also changed the channel on the television and turned on most of the lights. 

Armstrong, understandably, confronted Sundby, who apologized, refused help, and then promptly left. He was found about 20 minutes later by police, alive but “cold and disoriented,” as Alexandria, Minnesota’s Police Chief, Rick Wyffels, told the Star-Tribune.

Sundby, Wyffels added, did not have any drugs or alcohol in his system and has no recollection of what happened.

Which means we may never know exactly how Sundby’s miraculous crash happened. As for Armstrong, he was just happy he remained calm.

“Fortunately for the both of us, I was able to take a second to get a grasp of the situation instead of coming out swinging with a golf club,” he told the Star-Tribune.