By the damage to the trees and brush, it appeared the car shot out and then down.

"By the tracks I see here it looks like he launched 50 to 60 feet, 50 to 60 easy," said neighbor Tom Nolan.

Firefighters figure a tree broke the 100-foot fall. Once the 16-year-old hit the bottom, he called his mom who contacted police.

"One of the police officers took the phone and was talking to him and we did a search and found him over the embankment," said firefighter Ron Simmons.

The teen stayed on the phone with police until medics could get him safely back up the cliff and into an ambulance that rushed him to Providence Everett Medical Center.

A towing crew worked for more than hour to figure out how to pull the little red BMW back up and out. Just getting to the car took work.

"Nasty -- sticker bushes everywhere. It was hard getting back up this hill - I don't know how he survived it," said Jeramy Birkland of Angel Towing.

One look at the car and crews could see how lucky the teen really was. After plunging 10 stories, firefighters were amazed he lived at all.

"The steering column was buckled so he did hit it. It's a miracle that he was able to get out and make a phone call," said Simmons.

The teen was alert and talking to medics when they took him to the hospital for evaluation.