An elderly woman, her son, and her chihuahua were saved by good Samaritans after their truck plunged into the water in Long Beach, California.
87-year-old Mary Watkins’ son Larry was wearing a medical boot after foot surgery. The boot got stuck on the accelerator as he drove. The car wasn’t going very fast as it headed down the road, but it still broke through a barrier before plunging into the water.
A Long Beach Fire Department rescue boat was thankfully nearby and was able to assist, but they needed more help to get this trio to safety before it was too late.
LBFD Lifeguard units responded to reports of a submerged vehicle just after 1pm today. LIfeguard and vessel assist personnel arrived and made water entry and extricated an elderly couple from the vehicle. Couple was treated on scene and released. Accident under investigation. pic.twitter.com/OaSU2kZ1mV
— Long Beach Fire (CA) (@LBFD) August 19, 2018
Jeff Perez saw this happen and knew what he had to do. There simply weren’t enough hands to get this done fast enough, so the good Samaritan jumped in the water to assist the rescue efforts. No time was wasted saving this family from a watery grave.
“And no sooner did I hop in the water, the lifeguard captain was handing over the older lady to me,” he said.
It was truly a team effort mixed with help from professionals and caring bystanders. They worked quickly and gently, given Mary’s advanced age. She was shocked at how things turned out.
“I said, ‘Boys I’m 87-years-old, be very careful,’” Mary recounted. “And they were, my hair’s still dry and they didn’t even mess up my lipstick.”
That’s simply remarkable that her hair didn’t get wet. Video of the rescue is below. It’s terrific that they made it a priority to also rescue Cantiflas the Chihuahua.
WATCH:
Jeff Jones is a captain with a local towing company. He saw it all go down and put it on Facebook Live after alerting authorities for help.
“I’m usually the person who would jump in to help but I had major surgery 10 days ago,” Jones said. “So I ran to the Long Beach fire and lifeguard station, which was literally right there.”
His video has gone viral and gives a first-hand account of the dramatic rescue. You can see that below.
Source: Western Journal